Falling Up a Mole Hill
by ValidationNotRequired
Summary: New to Beach City, Benny Toite has to adjust to the strange things around him. Upon arriving, he learns a secret that has been kept from him his whole life: He is a gem. Why was this kept a secret? What crazy adventures will this bring forth? And who is the woman his dad keeps talking to at night? Read to find out.
1. Welcome to Beach City!

**So, I didn't think about this before, but if you ever made an OC for Steven Universe, and it ended up being anything that I have used/ will use, I apologize. I did in no way mean to take anyone's ideas. I just thought of something and went with it.**

* * *

"You ready to 'SEA' the beach, Benny?" my dad asked. I rolled my eyes at him and shrugged.

"I guess. I've heard a lot about it from you. If it's so nice, why did you and mom leave in the first place?" I was watching out the window of the car, but I could tell dad tensed up from this question. He does it every time I bring up anything about mom.

"We… were short on money. The house was too expensive, so we had to move."

"You hesitated. Again. What are you afraid to tell me? What, was there some huge war waged by an alien species that could have caused the destruction of our planet or something?" He jumped slightly and swerved out of his lane for a second, so I looked back at the road. I didn't see anything, and we didn't hit anyone, so I turned to him. "What was that about?!"

"I… almost hit a deer." He sounded scared, and I could see that he was shaking.

"What deer? I didn't see anything." I looked around again, watching the trees by the side of the road more closely.

"Really? I must be tired. I think I'm seeing things. You wanna take the wheel, or should we stop somewhere for the night?"

"I'll drive, I guess." I hadn't forgotten about what we were saying, but obviously he didn't want to talk about it. "But only if I get control over the radio."

"Fine," he said. "But no country."

When we pulled into the town, I could see the sun rising over the water. It was beautiful. I could stare at it forever if it wouldn't burn out my retinas. Dad, who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, rolled over and snored loudly in my ear.

"DAD!" I yelled, smacking him in the arm and swerving from the shock. He woke up as I was going out of control, and we both were screaming as we were spinning into a pink…. Lion? Suddenly, it was covered in a bubble and a tall woman wearing red jumped in front of the car, stopping it. Dad got out and looked at the car, but I was amazed by the woman who had stopped the car. I got out and walked up to her.

"Look at this! My car is totaled! Ben, you are in so much trouble!" Dad yelled, pulling out his phone.

"Thanks for saving us, um…"

"Garnet." The woman said, then began walking away. I watched her for a minute, then looked at the lion. The bubble dissipated, and I could see a young boy, maybe 13, standing under it. I walked up to him, watching to make sure the lion didn't attack.

"Kid, get away from that lion." I said, grabbing for his arm to pull him away. The Lion started growling and I backed away. "SORRY, sorry."

"Hi, my name is Steven Universe. You must be new to this town." He said, extending his hand and ignoring the lion.

"Yeah, my dad and I are moving here from the country. I'm Benny Toite. Nice to meet you, Steven."

* * *

"Thanks for the help, Mr. Universe." I said as Greg towed our car. "You wouldn't happen to have a car repair shop in this town, would you?"

"No, we generally don't drive here. Usually, it's the mayor, a couple of teens, and myself who drive around here, so a repair shop wouldn't get much business. There is one a couple miles out of town though. So, where are we headed?" He asked dad, but I made my way to the back of the van with Steven.

"So, Steven, what kind of stuff is their to do around this town? Hopefully there's at least one arcade."

"Sure there is. But... I'm kinda banned from it."

"What for, you get caught cheating? getting into fights?"

"No, I smashed a few machines. Well, I was blamed for all of it, but I really only smashed one. The Crystal Gems did the rest."

"Crystal... Gems? What is that, some kind of band name? Definitely could do better."

"No, we're not a band, though you could say we 'ROCK'!" He said, laughing. I tilted my head to the side and lifted my eyebrow, not understanding his supposedly obvious joke. He lifted his shirt up to reveal a pink gemstone on his stomach. It seemed just like the one one my shoulder, except his was more natural than mine. "We are a species of aliens who are gems that can morph into whatever we want to. We fight monster and generally save beach city, but sometimes even the world. We have these awesome powers and can even fuse together." He made a shield appear to prove his point.

"So, what? Are you, like, immortal and invincible? or do you have a weakness?"

"Well, gems aren't completely invincible, but I think they are immortal. I'm not, cause I'm part human. My mom gave up her physical being to have me. I am the first human gem." I did't want to show him my gem. I couldn't take that from him. Though, maybe I should, because I've always been picked on for mine.

"Um, Steven..." I started to say, but was interrupted by Dad and Greg.

"We're here!" They both said in unison.

"WHOA!" exclaimed Steven. "You guy's are the one's who bought the light house? That means you'll be able to see the Gems and me on the beach everyday."

This was crazy. Crystal gems, half human half gems, and me being one of them? I needed to go lay down. I got out of the van and headed for the lighthouse, but suddenly my vision started to spin and all I saw were stars. I could feel the earth under me disappear. Next thing I knew, I heard Dad call my name and Greg calling for Steven. Then, nothing.


	2. Making Frienemies

When I opened my eyes, I was laying in a bed, windows all around the room. I looked around and saw that I was in the top of the lighthouse. I started to get up when a woman wearing a light blue shirt and yellow-orange shorts. She had a pearly object in her head. "Your up? Well, that's good. You must be hungry after all that sleep." She said, looking slightly disgusted at the thought.

"How long was I out? Doesn't seem like it was too long, maybe a few hours at most. What time is it, 8, 9 o' clock?"

"Three in the morning, and you've been unconscious for about a week and a half. I don't know what caused it, but Steven and your father have been worrying nonstop for you. would you like to go see them? They made food just a few minutes ago, so you could probably still get some... as long as Amethyst hasn't shown up."

"I'm not hungry, oddly enough. But, I will go down and see everyone." I made my way out of the room and down the stairs with pearl, who I noticed watching me as if I were going to attack her any minute. "My name is, as I assume you probably know by now, Benny. What's yours?"

"I am Pearl, and I am a member of the Crystal Gems. I am also one of the three guardians of Steven. If you hurt him, I will destroy you, understand?" She said in her most menacing voice.

"Whoa, who said anything about hurting anyone? I don't even know if I could. I'm just some normal guy." I said, defensively. "Besides, Steven and I are friends, so no worries."

"Ha, you, normal? Don't try and act dumb. I know you're a gem too. That's why I've been watching you. I don't know who sent you or why, but I can assure you, I'll be watching." We got to the end of the stairs and joined everyone else as I thought about what she said.

"Benny! You're okay." Steven ran up to me and hugged me, but I just stood there awkwardly. "I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up." He let me go, and I walked up to my dad. He had a blank face like always.

"Son. Glad you're okay. Hungry?" He said. With no more response than that, I shrugged. No point in arguing with him about eating. Especially not with Steven here. I wouldn't want him to see my dad angry.

"Do you mind if I go out around the town with Steven after this? I need to do something after being in bed for so long. my body needs to stretch."

"Sure, Son. just don't get yourself into any more trouble. I don't want Greg to be any more worried about his son than he already is." I nodded, and he handed me a plate of food. I ate it as fast as possible. This house was making me feel unwanted.

* * *

After finishing my food, Steven and I were walking around town. He was showing me his favorite spots to visit that he was still allowed at. I laughed at the stories he told me about the adventures he had with the gems. Like how he had to destroy the arcade games to unbrainwash Garnet.

"So, where are you from Benny? What's it like there?" Steven said as we stopped at the beach and sat. The sun was rising again, and it was beautiful. Steven yawned, and laid back, but continued to watch me.

"Where am I from? A small farm town in the middle of the country. I want get into specifics, but what is was like? I hated it. The weather is always muggy, hot, and suppressing. Every time I went outside in the summer, I'd feel like I wanted to collapse. And don't get me started on the mosquitoes. At night, the weather was great, but every time you went outside, it felt like you were walking into a wall of the little vampires. You'd wake up the next day with red, itchy spots all over you. Would I recommend living there? Only if you really like the nature. That was the only saving grace for that place. The woods and animals there were all so beautiful."

"Wow," said Steven, groggily, "It sounds amazing. I might have to go there..." He yawned, "Someday." He fell asleep on the ground. I smiled and looked at the sunrise. I could just watch it forever. I picked Steven up and took him home, which he showed me earlier.

As I walked up the steps of his house, I saw a girl with lavender hair. She was sleeping on the floor, but when I approached the door, she got up and opened the door for me. I walked up to where she said Steven's bed was, and laid him down. She watched me the whole time, but I paid her no mind. "You must be Amethyst. Steven's told me a lot about you. I'm Benny. Benny Toite. It's A pleasure to meet you." I said as I approached her. I held out my hand for her to take it, but she just starred at me.

Finally she took my hand and shook it. "I see Pearl was worried about nothin'. Again. You don't seem so bad to me. Too bad, I was hoping for some fun." This peaked my interest.

"Not to bad, eh? Well, I can definitely be bad if you want. I'm more fun than you may think." I started to walk towards the door. "Just tell me if you're bored. I can definitely help with that. You can find me in that lighthouse if you need me." I said as I walked outside. I didn't look back, but I almost couldn't resist seeing the look on her face.

* * *

As I got back to the lighthouse, I found dad standing there waiting for me with a stern look on his face. Great. "Hey, dad. Sorry I took so long, Steven was showing me around town. I would have been home sooner, but he was having fun and I didn't want to leave him."

"That's not important. You know I don't like you being gone for too long, but I have a new rule. You are no longer allowed to hang out with Steven and his friends. Understand?"

"What?! I just met the kid, why are you telling me I can't hang out with him? He seems fine to me."

"Don't question me, son. Just do as I say, or do you want another beating?" He looked at me with a blank expression, but I was mad.

My shoulder began to glow and burn. I began to reach for it, when a glowing object formed from it. I pulled it out and saw that I was holding a large blue, disproportionate war hammer. I swung it over my left shoulder and made a sprint for the side of the cliff. As I approached it, I leaped off the side and plummeted to the ground. I was about 5 feet from slamming into sand when I swung the hammer as hard as I could into the cliff-side, launching me towards the water.

I hit it harder than I thought, because I was sent so far that I could no longer see the beach. Then I began to sink into the water. However, as I descended, the water seemed to just move around me. Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed back towards shore. How I could tell where I was going, I don't know. Instinct, maybe. But before I new it, I was on land again. I got up and grabbed my hammer, which was quite light despite it's appearance. I walked forward for a minute, then realized that returning home was probably a bad idea after that stunt I just pulled. So I went to the next place I could think of.

I knocked on the door to Steven's house, but there was no answer. I looked around, but there was no sign of anyone. Except for Steven, who was still asleep. I was about ready to give up when I was greeted by... Ugh.

"Hello, Benny. Not coming to harm Steven, I hope." Pearl opened the door and let me in. As I walked in, she noticed my hammer and jumped away, materializing a spear and pointing it at me. "What is that and why do you have it?"

"This? It's my hammer... maybe I should name it. Anyway, I have it because it appeared out of this gem on my shoulder. No idea how." I let go of the hammer, then it vanished in a flash of light. I noticed her relax slightly as my weapon disappeared. "So, I was just here to ask if I could stay over for a while."

"Why on earth would you want to do that? And why should I let you? You just keep raising my suspicions about you." She said as Amethyst walked into the room.

"Hey, dudes. Whatcha up to?" She saw Pearl holding her spear towards me. "Whoa, Pearl, back off. This guy's not a threat, put that thing away." I could hear Steven waking up, and Pearl wasn't backing down. I had to do something.

"So, how about this, Amethyst trusts me, and so does Steven. We ask Garnet her opinion and if she says no, I'll leave. So put your weapon away before Steven wakes up." I said, and she nodded.

"Fine, but I'm watching you. Amethyst, tie him up. I don't want him trying anything." She walked to the door Amethyst came out of and it opened. she walked through, and the door closed behind her.

"What is she so worried about? Why would I hurt Steven? You and him have been the only real friends I've had since arriving in this crazy town. Thanks for sticking up for me, by the way." She was tying me up like Pearl asked, and I'm sure she is only doing it to avoid Pearl nagging at her. She seems like the type to do that.

"It's no problem man. She's just worried that you're a spy sent from the Gem home world, so she doesn't trust you. So, what's your story with that gem? Are you some kind of experiment, or were you made here on earth like me? Or are you really a gem from the home world?" She was watching me curiously now, waiting for a response. Steven started walking down to where we were, and I sighed. No avoiding it now.

"Hey, Steven. Come over here and sit down. I'm about to tell Amethyst a story. I think you should hear it too." He looked at me with confusion and sat down beside Amethyst.

"Why are you tied up? And why are you still here? Isn't your dad gonna be worried about you?" Steven was really talkative for someone who just woke up.

"No, why would he be? As long as I'm not making him look bad or I'm doing what he says, he generally ignores me. Anyway, the story I'm about to tell will explain why I'm tied up. Granted, I've only ever heard it once myself, and I don't know how much of it is true, this is the closest thing I have to knowing my mom."

"Wait, what does that have to do with anything?" Amethyst spouted, interrupting me.

"Just listen. My mom lived in Beach City many years ago. About thirty years, if I remember correctly. She was just an average woman who was in her late teens. Maybe 18, 19. Around my age. But then, she met my father. He appeared from no where, and she had never met anyone like him. I don't know how she fell for him, but the two of them got married. Unfortunately, they didn't have the money to stay in beach city. My dad is a great scientist, and my mom loves nature. because of this, they moved off to the country to start a farm. They did great, and made just enough money every year to get by. That is, until I came along. Mom was thirty one when she had me. I don't know what caused it, but she didn't live through my birth. I was born with this gem on my shoulder." I pulled my shirt down and showed them the gem.

"Well, as I grew up, I could never figure out where it came from. I was teased for it, and no one wanted anything to do with me. So, I kept it hidden. Every time I would ask my dad about mom, he would either get nervous and lock up or get mad and yell. It wasn't until one night, when he seemed off, that he finally told me this story. I know now that he was drunk. I've looked before, but could never find anything about mom in our possession. Oddly enough, I could find a lot of things about my dad, but never found any kind of birth certificate or anything else that proves who he is. I figured he had it put somewhere safe, but now I wonder... What if he's a gem? What if he's the reason for my gem on my shoulder? But then, what happened to my mom? Why did she die, and why am I still here?"

"So, you're at least half gem? Like me?" Said Steven, a little excited.

"Well, I'm older than you, so technically it would be that you're like me. But, yes, I am. Or, at least, until we figure out more." We continued to talk about it, and I explained to Steven why I was tied up, until finally Pearl came back into the room with Garnet.

"So, Garnet? What's it gonna be? Can he stay?" Pearl asked? She stared at me for a few seconds, then responded.

"I don't see why not. He doesn't seem to dangerous, and even if he is, I can handle him." She said, then helped me up after untying me. Pearl looked stunned. I grinned slightly, and thanked Garnet. "However, he has to stay in Rose's room." Everyone gasped, and I shrugged.

"As long as I can stay. I'm sure it won't be that bad."


	3. Trust No One

"But, doesn't that room only work for me?" Steven asked Garnet.

"Yes. Which is why he's staying in there. We can bring him food and water, but he won't be able to hurt anyone." Garnet said, making me feel uncomfortable.

"You know, I think I changed my mind. I'll just go see if Greg will help me set up a temporary place to stay outside of my own. Otherwise, I'd feel like a prisoner. But, thanks anyway." I said, leaving the house.

"You're going to see my dad? I wanna go!" Steven started to follow, but I stopped him.

"Steven, these three just want to protect you. Obviously, that means I need to be around as little as possible. So, unless one of them goes with you," I said, giving Amethyst a inquisitive look, "I have to go by myself."

Amethyst looked at Garnet and Pearl, who didn't look happy about it. "Ehh, I think I'm gonna stay here and sleep some more."

"Aww, lease Amethyst?" Steven begged.

"Sorry, little man. You're just gonna have to sit this one out. Besides, isn't Connie coming over today?" That caught my attention.

"Connie? Steven, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend." Steven's face turned bright red.

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend. We're just friends." He was getting nervous and I could tell he liked her, but he probably was to shy to admit it.

I shrugged. "Fine. Just don't ever let her down. Trust me, women hate that. See ya, Steven." I said and began walking down to the beach. I was gonna need a job to afford the supplies needed for a shelter of some kind. I figured that would be the first thing I do. But that means going back home. And facing dad.

* * *

I got back to my house, but there was no sign of my dad. I walked in being as quite as I could, and walked around trying to find my things. I had no idea where anything was yet, but it didn't even look like a house anymore. I felt Like I was walking around in a spaceship from a sci-fi movie. I found the first door I could and opened it, but heard talking. I stopped, and noticed my dad's voice, but I couldn't tell who he was talking too. It was a woman's voice.

"You've found their base, then? And, you say you're son has been spending time with them? This may just work in our favor. I want you to keep tbs on them and get as much information from your son as possible. Understood, Apatite?" Apatite? I thought his name was Abe.

"Yes, Ma'am. I will talk to you again when I have more information about them. This is Apatite, signing off." He said, and I could here a strange zap. I quickly ran back out of the house, and down the hill into town.

* * *

I wandered around town, looking at all the places that I could get a job at. I was hoping to find a place with little to no people who worked there yet. I went to a few locations, like the arcade which had too many people going in and out, Fish Stew Pizza, also too many people, and To The Tee. I wasn't sure I would be able to handle working at a place with clothing be the main product, considering I rarely wore more than a pair of shorts. Definitely not my area of expertise.

I went to the restaurant next door, Big Donut, and noticed that there were only two people who were inside. This seemed like the kind of place I was looking for. I walked inside, and the two people, a short, blonde girl, and a tall, scrawny guy with red hair, were sitting there not paying attention. "Ahem." That didn't get their attention, so I walked up and stood there.

About five minutes later, the guy finally said something. "Aren't you going to take his order, Sadie?" He still didn't look at me.

"What?" She said, finally looking up from a book she had been reading. When she saw me, she blushed. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't notice you there."

"It's fine. I'm not here to order. Besides, I understand getting lost in a good book." I smiled, and she laughed.

"Yeah, I get like that... Wait, do I know you? I don't think I've seen you around town before?"

"Naw, I'm new here. Just moved here this morning. In the old light house on the hill. Anyway, I needed a job. I've been looking around town for a while, but this place seemed to have a more comfortable venue. Besides, it looks like a few hardworking hands are needed here." I said in a condescending tone, looking at the guy who was just laying back and not doing anything to help. He noticed what I said, and got up. Obviously I upset him.

"Oh, don't mind Lars. He acts bad, but he's just a big softy." Sadie said, pushing him slightly.

"I can handle my own fights, Sadie." Lars said. He got in my face. "Who do you think you are, coming into our town, our business, and judging us?"

"I'm Benny. I wasn't trying to start a fight. But, maybe if you did you're job better and were nicer, you'd have more customers." I said, as calm as I could be.

"Lars, back off. You know he's right. I tell you the same thing all the time." Sadie pulled him away from me.

"But he just got here. He doesn't even know anything about me." He was yelling. I obviously made him angry. Getting a job here wasn't going to be easy now.

"You're right. I shouldn't have assumed anything. I am bad about judging people to soon. How about we start over. Hi, I'm Benny. Nice to meet you." I held my hand out for him to shake it.

"Fine, but I'm not just gonna let this go." He grabbed my hand, and I squeezed it hard and pulled him towards me. He was squirming, trying to get free.

"Look, Lars," I said just loud enough for him to hear me, but not Sadie, "I don't know how you behave normally, but I just want you to know that I don't take kindly to people who don't have respect for others. You better not make me mad, got it?" He nodded, and I let him go. He was frowning, but sat back down. "So, about that job, how about it. Can I work here, or not?"

"Well, we normally would need to interview someone first..." Sadie seemed unsure about it at first.

"Just let him. He'll probably screw up, anyway. He won't last long." I looked at Lars, who was watching me with a grin.

"Okay, you're hired." Sadie said, and ran back to the door behind the counter. She disappeared, and two minutes later, she came back out with a shirt. She handed it to me.

"Thanks. So, when can I start?"

"Well, you could start today, if you want."

"Hmm... Maybe I'll start tomorrow. I got some other things I need to get done, and I don't know how long it'll take before I'm done. What time should I be here?"

"Just come in at whatever time you can. We don't really have a set time." Sadie went back to reading.

"Okay, well, I'll see you then." I said, and then left. I headed towards It's A Wash to find Greg and talk to him about setting up my house.

* * *

I arrived at the car wash and found that Greg was still asleep. It was pretty early, so I wasn't surprised. I walked up to his van window and knocked on it. He didn't wake up. I didn't know how to wake him up without breaking into his van, because all the doors were locked. I decided to forget about it and try again later. I needed to inform the gems about my dad before something bad happened. I raced back to Steven's house to find Garnet standing in front with her arms crossed.

"I had hoped you wouldn't come back." Gauntlets appeared on her hands in a flash of light, and I stepped back a little.

"What are you planning on doing, fighting me? I didn't come he to..." She charged at my and swung her left fist at my head. I narrowly dodged it, but I could feel the sting from where it had scraped across my face. "You don't want to start this. The more time we waste, the more danger..." Another swing, and this time hitting me square in the chest. I flew back and landed on my back on the ground. I lost my breath, but I forced myself up anyway.

"What you have to say is not important. What's important is Steven's safety." She said, running at me and pulling her fist back for another punch. I was angry now, and my shoulder began to glow and burn again. I reached for it and pulled out my hammer just as she approached me. As she swung her fist forward, I moved the flat edge of my hammer in front of it, absorbing most of the blow.

"This is about Steven's safety!" I was struggling against her strength, being pushed back a little due to the loose footing from the sand. "I don't know much, but some one wants my dad to watch you four." Upon hearing this, stopped pushing against my hammer.

"So you came to warn us about some mysterious person your dad works for. Fine. Come inside and you can explain more." She turned and headed towards the house. I began to follow her, but a sharp pain shot through my chest. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground, writhing. I tried to grab my chest, but that only helped to increase the pain. I decided the best course of action was to stop moving all together, so I took a couple of deep breaths, causing me to wince, and tried to calm myself back down.

"What's wrong?" Garnet said, walking up beside me.

"I think you broke my ribs." I laughed slightly. Mentally I reminded myself to kick me for that later. "You sure do pack a punch.


	4. Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones

Garnet carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I winced, and she went to get Pearl and Amethyst. Steven was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he was with that Connie girl. I tried to force myself up, but I couldn't withstand the pain. NO! I had to be stronger than this. If these gems need help, then I was going to need to overcome anything, even the most unbearable pain. I formed my hammer and used it as a cane. With all the force and willpower I could muster, I pulled myself up off the couch, screaming loudly in the process. "Jeez, what the heck is that noise?" I heard someone yell from the bathroom.

"Just me dying. Maybe you could come help an injured person?" I yelled back. There was silence for a moment, then the bathroom door opened and a short, green girl walked out.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked, eyeing me suspiciously. I almost laughed.

"I could ask you the same. Steven never told me about you, cutie." I chuckled lightly.

"I'm not cute!" She screamed, and ran up to me and punched me in the stomach. The vibrations from the punch resonated through my chest, and I fell to the floor and screamed in agony. She looked shocked from what I could see through the tears in my eyes. "Did... Did it really hurt that bad?" She asked.

"Well, DUH! My ribs are broken!" I was spitting the words out like venom, completely furious now. I grabbed at her and pulled her towards me, both using her to stand back up, and pushing her to the ground to get her back.

"Let go of me, you jerk!" She was squirming under the weight of my foot, but I wasn't letting her go that easily.

"Not yet. Who are you, and why are you hiding in Steven's bathroom?" I kicked my hammer up into the air and caught it, holding it in a way that would be easy to smash against this girl if need be.

"Ugh... I am Peridot, and I've been in there because these gems captured me. I've been locked up in that _bathroom_ because they won't let me leave." She stopped squirming.

"So, you aren't here by choice? I mean, I could help you get out if you wanted." I said, letting her up. She dusted herself off.

"No, I'm actually working with them, for now. There's a monster that will destroy earth if we don't do anything about it, and they need my knowledge of the thing to defeat it." She said in a matter-of-fact voice. I chuckled lightly again.

"So, you're a prisoner, but a willing one? And apparently, you can't fight or do pretty much anything besides being cute." I said, but then covered my body in preparation for another hit. Nothing. "So, where are you from? You don't seem to be from here if you don't understand these things we have on earth." I said as she grabbed a bagel sandwich from the fridge and stared at it inquisitively.

"I'm from the home world. I would still be there if those Crystal Clods wouldn't have continuously smashed my machinery." She threw the sandwich at me, and I just stood there.

"So, you're a defenseless gem with no knowledge of the world you're on? Did you come here alone?" I asked, walking up beside her and grabbing her arms, picking her up and putting her on my shoulders. "So short." I said under my breath.

"What are you doing? Put me down." I didn't listen. She was hitting my head and trying to get me to let go. After about a minute or two of this, she sighed and gave up. "No, I had a partner with me, but her arrogance got her trapped under the ocean."

"Trapped under the ocean? How does that work? Did she drown? Sink, maybe." I was contemplating all the things that could have happened, then remembered the water pushing me back to shore. "Someone is holding her down there, right?"

"Correct. Another gem named Lapis Lazuli fused with her and is forcing her to..."

"FUSED?! Gems can fuse?! That's so cool!" I interrupted her, and started thinking of fusions that I could make with other gems.

"Yes, Gems can fuse. Unlike you humans, we are naturally gifted with abilities like that."

"But I'm not human. Or at least, not completely. See?" I lowered my shirt so she could see the gem on my shoulder.

"Another hybrid? What is with this worlds gems and reproducing with humans?"

"Well, how do gems form naturally?" I asked, curious how the process worked.

"We make gems in the ground. They absorb the nutrients and other things necessary to form from the ground, and after absorbing enough, they pop out of the ground with physical forms, like mine."

"So, you kill the planet every time you make more gems? I'd say reproducing with humans would be a more efficient way to make new gems."

"Maybe, but Steven seems to be the offspring of Rose Quarts, and I don't see her around."

"Steven told me that was because his mom gave up her physical form to have him."

"So you make a gem by getting rid of a gem. I wouldn't call that more efficient."

"You may be right. But, my dad's a gem and he's still alive. Maybe it's just female gems who have to give up themselves." I threw her onto Steven's bed just as the rest of the gems walked into the room.

"I thought you said his ribs were broken." Pearl said to Garnet.

"They are. I'm just fighting through the pain. I need to get stronger so I can help you."

"But you are just going to make things worse if you don't sit down and relax. Human bones are very finicky." Garnet grabbed me and laid me down on the couch again.

"Let's see if we can find something to use inside." I heard Steven say from outside. He came rushing in through the door, took a few steps, then stopped when he realized what was happening.

"Fine, Steven. But let's hurry. I don't want to leave Lion alone in town." A girl walked in behind him, stopping when she got inside. "Is this a bad time? Should I not be here?" She asked. I assumed that this was Connie.

"You must be Connie. I'm Benny Toite. I just moved to Beach City. Um, does she know about all of... the stuff?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Gem stuff? Yeah, I've actually helped before." She answered for me.

"Really? How so? If you're human, I'd assume it would be difficult to fight, and you probably have about as much knowledge on the home world as I do."

"I am a sword fighter... In training. But still, I can handle myself."

"As long as Steven is there. Without his shield, you'd still be pretty defenseless." Pearl said in a tone you'd expect from a teacher. Connie blushed and looked down.

"Hey, she's got more potential than a lot of other humans do." I said, defending her. "Besides, they're kids. She'll be a great sword fighter when she's older. Anyway, we're getting off track. I came here to warn you all about my father. I don't know for sure why, but he's watching you guys. I overheard him talking to a woman in my home. Oh, yeah! He's also turned the light house into a giant space station. Or at least, that's what it looks like."

"He's watching us? And you said there was a woman he was contacting? Did you see what she looked like?" Garnet asked. I shook my head.

"No, but she had a deep voice that seemed strong and commanding. They were going to use me to get information on you, but I found out first. How lucky are we?"

"Well, I can't think of anyone who would fit a description like that. Peridot, you wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?" Pearl asked loudly, probably thinking she was still in the bathroom.

"Well, I could assume that it might be yellow diamond, but I wouldn't know without hearing the voice myself." She said, sitting up on the bed.

"Man, it's to bad you didn't see her. Then you could just shape shift into her to show us." Amethyst said in a bored tone.

"Shape shift?!" I got excited. "HOW DO I DO THAT!"

"You might not want to. Last time I tried to shape shift, my body became independent from my brain. I couldn't control myself. it was horrifying." Steven looked upset.

"Besides, you're hurt. It probably isn't a good idea." Connie was trying to comfort Steven. Those two should just be a couple and get it over with.

"Wait, maybe Steven can heal him." Amethyst said. "I mean, he did help Greg's broken leg."

"Oh, yeah! Benny, I need you to lift up your shirt." Steven said moving towards me.

"Okay?" I did as he asked. "Not sure why this is necessary." Steven licked his hand and started moving it towards my chest, but I grabbed his arm before he made contact. "Whoa, what are you doing? I'd rather not have your spit on me."

"Don't worry, my spit has healing properties." I hesitated for a second, then let go of his arm.

"Okay. Go ahead." He put his hand on my chest, and for a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, all at once, I could feel my bones moving under my skin, the bone fractures were cutting my muscles and lungs, causing me to cough up blood. I fell into the floor, holding my chest as the wounds slowly closed themselves after being opened up, and the process just kept repeating itself for what seemed like forever.

"Are you okay?" Connie and Steven helped me out of the floor once it stopped.

"I've been better." I coughed up more blood. "But, I don't hurt anymore. Physically, anyway. My brain is still in shock." I stood up straight, then made sure I had coughed up all the blood. "Now, about this shape shifting?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? especially after what just happened?" Steven was really worried about me.

"Don't worry. I can handle it." I patted him on the head.

"Well, you just kinda have to feel it. It's pretty simple." Amethyst transformed to prove her point.

"Okay, here goes nothing." I took a deep breath, then released it. I pictured what I wanted to be in my head, then took another deep breath. When I let it out this time, I felt my body change. I opened my eyes, and realized I still looked pretty much the same. "Vhat za? I could have svorn..." I stopped talking as I realized my voice had become slightly lower, and I had gotten an accent. everyone looked about as surprised as me. Slowly, I realized the difference in my appearance. My skin had become more pale, my teeth sharper, and my ears pointed more. I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were now a red violet color. "IT VORKED! I'M A VAMPIRE!"

"That's amazing! How did you change your voice like that?" Pearl asked, amazed.

"I just thought about changing my body to fit vhat I vanted to be. In this case, I changed my vocal cords to lover my voice. Can you not do that?"

"I don't know. I've never tried." I transformed myself back to normal. It took more concentration than anticipated.

"Hmm... Well, as gems, you don't breathe, right? And, You can change your physical form? Is the body we see really you?"

"No, it's a projection made from my gem."

"Which means that you wouldn't necessarily have human organs, either. You're basically just condensed light particles manipulated by your gem. That being said, the voice we hear is probably caused by the light particles vibrating and projecting through your mouth at altered speeds to make pitches. Technically speaking, you could change your voice. But, I don't know if your body as a gem would be able to process something like that. Not without practice, anyway." Pearl and Peridot looked at me in silence, surprised.

"Wow. I guess you're right. Are you sure you haven't had experience with gem related stuff before?"

"To the best of my knowledge. I can't recall anything about it. But, now I know I can change my voice." I concentrated on changing my voice again, this time to match the woman who my dad had been talking to's voice. I tested it a few times, then repeated what I had heard from the conversation. When I was finished talking, I changed my voice back to normal. "Well? Any ideas on who she is?" Everyone shook their heads in response.

"Great, now we have a new enemy. As if we didn't have enough problems already." Garnet said, walking back to her room.

"Wait!" She stopped walking and turned to look at me. "You all need to stop this monster before we don't have a planet to call home."

"This planet isn't my home." Peridot grumbled.

I turned to Peridot. "But it could be, if you were willing to stay and learn about us." I turned back to Garnet. "You keep focusing on stopping this..."

"Cluster." Peridot interrupted.

"From destroying our planet, and I'll keep an eye on my dad and this _potential_ enemy. If they are against us, I'll stop them."

"Fine, but be careful. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask." I nodded, then headed out the door.


	5. Old Friends, New Memories

**Before I start this chapter, please remember the description of the new character. I am only going to say it once so as not to offend. If it weren't for the fact that this is all text, I would not need to describe the characters appearance at all. You should know what I mean when it gets to it.**

* * *

"When this world is gone, baby we carry on. This curse is ours and we show our scars, but no one can hurt us while we drive our cars." I sang, walking home. "Drive our cars? Geez, I'm bad at making lyrics." I laughed as I trudged through the sand, worn out from the long day I've had. "I'm EXHAUSTED! And it's only 11 A.M. Please let this day end soon!" I threw my hammer into the air and let it crash back into the sand, then picked it up again. "Lapis Lazuli, Lapis Lazuli... I wonder what kind of gem she is. Maybe she's like Garnet." I pictured a strong built woman with blue skin and blue hair. "No, that doesn't seem right. Maybe like Pearl?" I imagined a small framed woman with short blue hair and a blue dress, barking orders at people on how to keep things organized and _perfect_ , but that didn't seem quite right either. "Well, who ever she is, I hope she doesn't over exert herself."

My mind began to wander back to my fight with Garnet. She was much faster than me. Had I not had such good reflexes, I would have been easily disposed of. But what really bothered me were her weapons. "She had two, and you only have one. That's what you were thinking, right?" A voice from behind me called. I stopped and turned around to find a black girl with bright orange hair and a well endowed body walking behind me. "Well, am I right?" She said getting uncomfortably close to my face.

"Who are you?" I said, backing away. "Why are you following me?" She got closer to me every time I moved away.

"You don't remember me?" She said, pouting. "How could you forget this adorable face, Benny?" She continued to get closer to me as I backed away. I stumbled over something and lost my balance, falling backwards onto the sand. She fell with me and landed on me, not giving me a chance to escape this awkward situation.

"Am I supposed to? I feel like I wouldn't forget someone with hair like that. Or..." I felt her body leaning against my chest, and my face got red. I looked away "Could you please get off of me.

She laughed. "You really haven't changed. Come on, Benny, it's me, Zina. Your old next door neighbor and childhood friend?"

"Childhood friend? Now I know your crazy. I didn't have any friends as a kid. Everyone always made fun of me, so I got into fights all the time."

"What?! You mean you really don't remember me?" She started pouting again and I noticed her eyes begin to fill with tears. "Benny, you jerk!" She punched me in the face and got off of me. She began to run away, but I grabbed her leg instinctively. She fell forward, and I winced.

"Sorry! I don't know why I did that. my body reacted on it's own." I said, but before I knew what was happening, she was throwing sand at me. I covered my eyes, and when I looked back at her, she looked angry.

"You say you don't remember me, yet you act as if we never left each other. Which is it?!" She kicked at my head, and I instinctively grabbed her leg. I stood up, then helped her up.

"I swear, I don't know who you are. My body is acting on it's own!" She looked really mad now. hip began to light up, as if she had a bright phone in her pocket or something, and she reached for it with both hands. What she pulled out, I didn't expect. She pulled out two shotels and charged at me. I grabbed my hammer and pulled it up as fast as I possibly could. I had barely made it, blocking the two blades with the pole from my hammer. I jumped away, not sure what to do. "Calm down, can't we just talk about this like rational adults?"

"Why are you being so mean?! I know you remember me, or you wouldn't be able to block me like that." She swung at me with her left hand, and I grabbed her arm. I knocked the other shotel away with my hammer, then used it to knock her down by sweeping her feet out from under her. I landed on top of her and held her arms down so she couldn't keep attacking me. "Let me go, you jerk!" She kneed me in the stomach, but I was to worried about my life to let that stop me from holding her in place.

"Wait! Let me explain something to you." She continued to struggle, but stopped after a few minutes and nodded. "I told you I used to get into a lot of fights. I still remember that. Well, when I was about 13, I had gotten into a fight with a kid who was part of a gang. The memories are a bit fuzzy on what caused it, and what happened afterwards. Well, his gang had jumped me and beat me to a point in which I was barely alive. I guess they panicked and tried to dispose of my body, because when I was found, I was on a river bank, my head smashed against a large rock. I was in a coma for 6 months. When I woke up, I couldn't remember much. I had even forgotten my own name. Had it not been for some physical therapy and my dad helping me regain most of my important memories, I wouldn't even know who I am." She stopped struggling, and I let her go. She sat up, and grabbed my hair. She pulled me towards her, then moved the hair around until she found my scar.

"So you really don't remember me." She said, letting me go. Suddenly, she started crying. Unsure what to do, I scooted up next to her and put my arms around her, pulling her close.

"Hey, just cause I don't remember you doesn't mean we can't still be friends. You'll just have to tell me about what we did as kids. And there's always new memories to be made." after a while, she stopped crying, and began laughing. I heard her mutter something under her breath, but I couldn't quite make it out. _Love_ was all I heard. "Did you say something?"

"Hmm? Oh, I said I'd love to make new memories. Besides, you were such a brat back then, it would be nice to have a different opinion of you." She laughed again, but I sensed that this wasn't what she meant. She was covering up something she didn't want me to hear. But, I know how to respect a woman's private thoughts.

"So, you can use two weapons, too." I said, changing subject. "Maybe I could have two weapons, but I haven't tried. And honestly, this hammer is kinda huge. Makes things inconvenient for fights in small spaces. Would two hammers really be useful?" I contemplated, talking out loud.

"well, it couldn't hurt to at least try and make two weapons. I use two because with my speed, I need to add a bit more weight to balance myself. It slows me down just enough for me to keep myself from stumbling, and it gives me a bit of a power boost. Not to mention the range of attack... By the way, why do you keep calling that thing a hammer? It's a Ōtsuchi, isn't it?"

"A what? Is that even a word?" I asked, confused.

"An Ōtsuchi. It's basically a Japanese war mallet. Haven't you ever looked this stuff up?"

"I only just found out I could use this thing today. I haven't had time to look it up." I said, standing up and reaching for my gem. I tried to pull out a second Ōtsuchi, but nothing happened. I kept trying, but every time, I got the same result.

"I guess you really can't. Odd, I haven't had trouble with mine. And from what I know, most gems should be able to dual wield weapons. So, maybe you're just defective." Defective. That word rung through my head like I was standing under a bell in a bell tower as it tolled. So many years, that's what everyone had called me. Every time that I got into fights, it was from people making fun of me for my gem, saying I was _defective._ Now, even someone who said she was my childhood friend was calling me the name I had hated for so long.

"Well, if I'm defective, I might as well not live!" I said, lifting the Ōtsuchi into the air. I was about to smash it against my head, when I thought of something better. "This gem has caused me nothing but pain and loneliness. I just want to destroy it!" I rammed the end of the pole into the gem on my shoulder, but instead of smashing the gem, it sunk into it, shining a bright blue light. I tried to pull it away, but it kept sinking further into the gem. Suddenly my hands started to change shape. I couldn't move them. Then I realized what was happening. The ends of my elbows were growing metal bars out of them, and my hands had become metal, stuck in the shape of a fist. I didn't fully understand what had happened, but I realized why I couldn't dual wield hammers.

"What the..." Zina moved her hand towards me, but I smacked it away. My hand, heavier than anticipated, hit the side of the cliff. Suddenly, the pole shot through my arm and my hand shot forward, creating a huge crater in the cliff. "You could have killed me!" She said, oddly excited. "This is so cool! There's no way that girl can beat you now."

"But I'm on her side. I don't need to fight her." I punched at the air, and it happened again. "So, every time I punch something, they shoot off."

"Geez, stop with the nerdy analysis. You punch things, they go boom, we get it. now change back."

"Okay, I'll try." I tried changing my body like when I shape shifted before, but it didn't work. "Um..."

"Nothing? Well, we gotta think of something... Maybe it works like summoning your weapon."

"True. But maybe not." I sat and tried for hours on how to return to normal, but to no avail. "This isn't working. What am I going to do? I can't function like this!"

"Well, I have an idea, but you might not like it."

"Tell me! I got work tomorrow! I can't be destroying things every time I touch them."

"Well, there's no guarantee it will work, but maybe if we knock you out, your weapons will disappear on their own. It's our only chance."

"Yeah, I just love the idea of letting someone knock me unconscious." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine, but make it quick. I'd rather not have to sit here in pain because you couldn't knock me out." Just as I started to say that, the ground began to shake. "Actually, that might have to wait."

I looked around, and noticed the cliff began falling apart. I didn't think much of it at first, until I noticed a large chunk of rock falling toward Zina, who was unaware of the boulder hurtling towards her due to losing her balance from the shaking. Unable to warn her in time for her to act, I ran up to her and lied on top of her, covering her from the boulder. It hit my back, and all I remember was a sharp pain, then everything turned red.

* * *

When I came to, I saw a bloodied Zina, crying, with Steven protecting her with a shield. I couldn't move my arm, and I felt a growing pain shooting through me in a series of pulses. I looked up, and saw garnet, who had gotten very beaten up, standing above me with a scowl, then pull her arm back, swinging it, and hitting me in the jaw. It hurt for a second, but no longer than that, because I blacked out.


	6. Saying Goodbye

I woke up, my head throbbing. I was tied down, to what I couldn't tell. All I COULD tell was that what ever I was lying on, it was soft. My vision was blurry, and my right hand numb. I tried to move it, but nothing happened. My ears were ringing, and I could barely make out the sounds of a conversation and slight sobbing. I looked around as best I could, and I noticed that someone was standing nearby me. As I watched the figure, I could slowly make out long purple hair and purple skin. "Ame...thyst?" I called faintly, my voice barely making it's way through my throat.

"Dude, your up? You took one heck of a hit from Garnet. What happened, anyway? That girl over there has been crying for hours and Garnet has been in a serious mood since you guys got back. She had me tie you up... again. Steven was kinda beat up, too. Sounds like something fun happened while you were gone." She whispered. Or, at least it sounded like a whisper. My ears were still ringing so loud, I could barely hear.

"Don't... Know. So... Thirsty." I choked out, coughing slightly. "Feels like... Sand... In my throat." I coughed more, harder this time.

"Hold on, man, I'll get you some water." Amethyst said, standing up. The moment she did, though, Garnet walked up, glaring at me, then at Amethyst.

"You will sit back down and keep watching him. He is not allowed to have any water. He might hurt some one.

"Hurt some one? With a glass of water? You sure your future vision isn't going haywire?" Amethyst said, laughing.

"Trust me, I've seen what he can do with it. You remember the trouble we had with Lapis?"

"Yeah, I could barely do anything to that water clone. Honestly, it pretty much beat me."

"Well, he's worse. He did THIS to my gauntlets." She dropped her gauntlets on the table, or what was left of them. The were in small pieces about the size of a razor blades. "And this was before I got close to him. Had I not had some assistance from her," She nodded towards Zina, " and Steven, I would probably have lost that battle."

Amethyst looked at me in disbelief. "DUDE, you seriously did all that?! How, or better yet, why did you do that?"

"What are... you talking... about?" I coughed more violently this time, lasting for about three minutes. When I was finally able to open my eyes back up after the coughing fit, I noticed sand on the floor. "Knew it. Anyway, I don't remember any of that." I was able to speak full sentences. "All I remember is diving to protect Zina from a giant boulder, a bunch of red, and then Garnet punching me in the face."

Zina limped over to us now, still sobbing, but much less so now. "Benny, this is the second time you've attacked people like that. No mercy, just hatred. But I thought all that had changed. I guess people never REALLY change, not where it counts."

"What are you talking about, Zina? When did I attack anyone? What happened?! Why are you so hurt?! WOULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN WHAT IS GOING ON?!" I was struggling as best I could to get free from the couch now, and I could see Garnet readying for another fight. The pieces of her gauntlets that were left on the table disappeared, and new ones formed around her fists. Amethyst pulled out a whip, probably just to be safe. I saw Steven make a shield bubble behind them, and heard a yelp as he did so. Probably Connie. Zina just limped closer to me, pushing the others out of the way.

She pushed the hair out of the way to show my scar. "You probably don't remember it. I wasn't the one you had attacked back then, but I saw it all."

* * *

We were in the fourth grade then. I walked up to the school with my mom, who was a human. She didn't know much about gem stuff back then. I was running about half an hour late, because I had missed the bus and the traffic was terrible. I didn't know much about gem stuff, myself. I only knew I had one. My dad, who must have been a gem, had left me and my mom behind.

When I finally got to class, mom hugged me, and left. I walked into the class room to see Benny being picked on by the other boys again, just like every other day. There were about fifteen of them. I was normally there to stop them from picking on him, but since I had gotten there late, I couldn't do anything about it. See, Benny has always been a quiet kid who would let the things they said go. They would pick on him, and he'd just sit there and take it.

I was about to run over and stop them, as the thought crossed my mind, they started hitting him. I was always good at scaring people away because I could talk big, but in an actual fight, I couldn't do much. I would always freeze up and start crying. So, I just stood there and watched as the kept hitting him. HE didn't budge, at first. Just kept taking punch after punch. We were in the class room, but the teacher had gone to run some errands. That's what I had heard, anyway. Well, with no teacher, there was no way to stop them. I sat in fear as they started hitting him so much that at one point he began to bleed.

Finally, someone came up behind him with a pretty large textbook in their hands. He smacked him right in the back with it, and I heard Benny scream for the first time since they had started hitting him. He fell to the floor, and didn't move for a few seconds. The other boys just laughed at him as he lied there in his own, small puddle of blood. It was horrifying. Suddenly, I heard someone laughing who I hadn't heard before. The other boys got quiet when they noticed it, too. The laughter got louder and louder, and then Benny, stood up, head still looking at the floor.

"He's lost it!" One of the boys cried out. "He's just asking for more!" The boy walked up to him and pulled his arm back to punch Benny again, only this time, when he swung his fist at him, Benny grabbed his fist with his right hand, and put his left hand on his elbow. I barley caught what was happening, but I knew what was gonna happen next.

 _CRACK!_ That's what I heard, then a loud scream. The boys arm was now bent in a way that a person should never have their arm bend. The other boys looked at Benny in horror as he stood there with a grin that screamed madness. A few of the boys ran away, while three ran at him, attempting to fight back. Benny punched the closest one in the face, kicked another in the stomach, and dodged the third, grabbed him by the hair, and kicked his legs out from under him. He slammed the boys head down into the tiled floor. The few boys that were left, watching, had peed themselves, and were running with the others. Benny just stood there, laughing.

He started to walk after the other boys, still laughing. Finally, I realized that I needed to do something, or he would hurt more people. I ran up behind him and grabbed him from behind. I held him in a hug, not noticing at the time that I had been crying, a lot like I am now. He struggled for a few minutes. I didn't let go, no matter what, but he never hit me. Eventually, the laughing stopped, along with his struggling. I was still crying, but there was no noise, other than that.

"Zina." I was caught off guard for a second, shocked that he said my name. I looked up at him. His head was turned towards me as much as he could, and I noticed, through the blood on his face, tears. He was crying, just like I had been. "I'm sorry I made you cry. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I... I probably won't be back at school for a while. If at all. I think I'm gonna have dad home school me from now on. But we can still hang out at home... if you still want to be around me after this?" He asked me, anticipating I'd say now, probably. I was about to answer when a group of teachers ran up, and saw me holding him in place, and him covered in blood. One teacher ran over and grabbed him, pushed him down to the floor, and held him there, another coming up to me and hugging me. She picked me up and carried me to the nurse's office. The other teachers ran into the class room, and I heard one female teacher scream out.

* * *

"I found out that you had gone to juvie after that. I wasn't surprised, and you must have known it was coming, too. It was about a year after that when I finally saw you again. But you only stayed for a few months. In that time, you trained me to fight, and your dad had taught me some things about gems. He told me to keep that a secret from my mom. I understand why he would say that now. After those few months, you and your dad moved away, and I didn't see you again until earlier today. In the few years that I hadn't seen you, I've been taking classes on how to fight. I've gotten stronger in hopes that I wouldn't lose to you if I ever needed to stop you again. Looks like it wasn't strong enough." She started sobbing again.

I was crying myself, now. I couldn't remember this completely, but scenes flashed from my eyes, of the boys lying there unconscious on the floor, the first one with his arm distorted. But most of all, I saw Zina holding on to me, crying, begging me to stop. She must not have remembered that part, or at least left it out, because I could remember it like it was happening right now. "I'm... I'm sorry, Zina. I made you cry again." I laughed a sarcastic, self-loathing laugh. "You know, this is the reason I asked Dad to move from there in the first place. I was avoiding you so I didn't make you cry again. But, this time, I didn't just make you cry." I was choking down sobs, now. I couldn't even bare to look at any of them. "I actually PHYSICALLY hurt you. I'm not fit to live if I go around hurting the people I care about."

Steven had dissolved his bubble shield now, and walked up to me. "Everyone has things that they struggle with. I get that you hated being bullied as a kid. And who knows, maybe that's what caused this." He looked at Zina, a knowing smile on his face. Her eyes grew wide, then she looked down and cried even harder. "But, you had tried to save her, first. You lost consciousness. None of this was under your control, and I, for one, don't blame you. But you need to figure out a way to deal with this anger you have inside you. And until then... Maybe it's best if you just leave us alone. I mean, I'm gonna miss you. You're a great friend, and you're a lot of fun, but we have enough issues without you hurting people."

Amethyst laughed. "Wow, Steven. That was a really grown up thing to say... Gross!" She made a fake vomiting sound, then tackled him.

Garnet nodded. "Steven is right. You would make a strong ally, but right now, you'd make an even stronger enemy. We can't have you jeopardizing our safety with you emotions running wild like that."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. "I agree. Untie me, and I'll leave right now. OH! And, Steven, tell Sadie that I've changed my mind. I probably won't be working there any time soon."

"You were gonna get a job at the Big Donut? Man, that woulda been so cool!" He said, Amethyst still wrestling with him.

Garnet had untied me, and I began walking to the door. "Well, I guess this is good bye, guys. Hope I see you again in the future." I opened the door and had one foot on the porch before I felt someone grab my arm. I turned to look at who it was, and found Zina, fighting back tears.

"Don't leave me again. If you're leaving, then I'm going with you." She said, with a determined look, but still fighting tears.

"I'm sorry, but... I can't risk hurting you again. Stay here with them. They're gonna need your help with my dad, anyway. I'll let them explain it to you." I pulled her in to hug her, then smiled at her. "I won't be gone forever. I promise." With that, I made my way out of the house and down the stairs. I could hear Zina crying from inside. It hurt to know I had caused all of this, but I knew I had to leave.


	7. Strange Occurrences

I walked across the beach, my feet slipping slightly in the sand. I was far enough away now to not be able to see the temple. I sat down, contemplating the things that had happened throughout the day. "I had found out that one of the few people I had in my life, my dad, was an enemy, and made new friends. I lost them, too, though. I hurt Zina, who apparently was a childhood friend who had experienced my outbursts before. I didn't even know her before today... That's not true. I just forgot. Stupid head trauma. I learnt I had powers, but they ended up being a burden. I got hurt pretty bad, too." I tried to move the fingers in my right hand, but my arm just sat there, limp. "I don't know what happened, but after I came too, I couldn't move my arm. I also had my ribs broken earlier today. That wasn't a huge deal though. They were healed. But man, that was a painful process. I wonder why that even happened."

I thought about it, but didn't dwell to much on it. "You know, I'm still confused about one thing. What was it that pushed me out of the ocean earlier? I know it wasn't me. I can't even control water. Or at least, I can't remember how to." I focused on the water and tried to manipulate it, but nothing happened. I continued to focus on the water, the waves drawing me into a trance like state, when I started to here voices. Two voices, faint, but completely obvious. One angry, the other... Exhausted, but determined to do not give up.

"Let. Me. GO!" Screamed one voice. It was a woman's voice, deep and full of hatred. "You can't keep me trapped here forever!"

"Yes I can! Now get back here and fuse with me!" Another woman, this time with a higher voice, gentle, yet fierce. I could hear her voice waver slightly, as if she were almost to a breaking point. Then, they were both silent. But, I could hear erratic water rushing under the surface. It sounded different than the waves from the ocean. uncontrolled, with no pattern. Suddenly, a large stream of water erupted from the surface of the abnormally calm water, and I heard a roar from something I had never heard before. I covered my face to avoid the salt water getting in my eyes.

When I looked back, what I saw was terrifying. A large, light green, six armed woman stood before me, wild hair billowing around her head. She had four eyes, and I could note a gem in the center of her face, as if it were her nose. She looked at her own body for a minute, then started to get angry. "I HATE THIS FORM! Let me GO, Lapis!" The creature said, as if it were talking to someone. Wait, I know that name. Lapis Lazuli, that's the name the gems had mentioned earlier. "No, I can't let you harm Steven or this planet. We're staying fused, Jasper, and we're going back under the water." A few seconds of silence, and she just stood there. "What? Why can't I control anything?!" Laughter. "Looks like you're too weak to do anything more than keep us fused!" The woman looked around the beach, and for a second looked past me. I thought I was in the clear, until it snapped it's head back towards me, a grin on her face that screamed murder. "You!"

"Um... Hi?" I waved shyly to the giant creature. "Can I help you, giant, terrifying woman?"

"Tell me where those gems are right now, and I will let you live... probably." She said, grabbing me and holding me closer to her face.

"And if I don't?" She began to squeeze my body, and I could feel my bones about to break. I screamed in pain, and she laughed, then released her grip slightly. Out of breath and in pain, I looked her in the eyes... the bottom two, anyway. "I... Who are you?" I said, gasping form the lack of air in my lungs.

"Well, that depends. Right now, this body is Malachite. But, you're speaking to Jasper, warrior from the home world. And, if you don't cooperate, your murderer." She laughed again.

"Jasper. That's a nice name. To bad I have to kick your butt. Lapis, you should defuse."

"What?! I can't do that! She'll get away!" Malachite screamed, Lapis talking now. Malachite began squeezing me again, but this time, it was ineffective. She looked at me in shock, and squeezed harder. Still nothing.

"Lapis, she is to strong like this, and you can't control her. Trust me, just defuse. I won't let her escape."

"But how could you..."

"JUST DO IT! I can handle this, okay?!" I yelled at her because I was holding back Malachite's strength with only one arm. It wasn't impossible, but my strength was about to give out and I wouldn't have much time to talk.

"... Fine. I trust you." Malachite started glowing, and I noticed two separate gems in the light. The one form split into two smaller forms, each gem separate from each other in it's own amalgamation of light on which to grow. I fell to the ground as the hands around me had faded into an ethereal form, and when I looked up from the sand, I watched as both the two gems became solid figures. To the left stood a tall, well built woman with wild hair and orange skin, who must have been Jasper. On the right, a small framed, slender woman with blue hair and blue skin, lying on the ground, obviously exhausted. I knew this must have been Lapis because of the coloration of her body. Jasper looked at her, then began to walk towards her, rage erupting out of her like a volcano.

"I've had enough of you interfering with my plans. I'm going to break your gem and finish you once and for all!" She was stomping her way towards Lapis, and I knew I needed to get over there and stop her, but I was having trouble getting myself off of the ground with my right arm immobile and my left arm worn out and sprained from keeping Malachite from crushing me.

"Help me! She's going to kill me!" Lapis was crawling away slowly. I could feel panic rising into my chest. I needed to do something fast, or I would witness a murder.

I screamed in frustration, putting all of my energy into getting my arms to work. No good was coming of it, but Lapis was losing time to be saved. "WORK, YOU STUPID ARMS!" I bit into both each arm, hoping to get them moving. pain shot through my left arm, but I felt nothing in my right. I was about to give up hope. I laid my head down on the sand, gritting my teeth, pain still shooting through my body. "WHY CAN'T I BE STRONGER THAN THIS?!" I rose my head of the ground and rammed it into the sand. I almost didn't notice it, but I looked back up again, blood running down my face. There was a small shimmer of light coming out of the wounds I had made on my arms, and a tingling feeling in them. I wasn't sure what was happening.

Jasper looked in my direction, noticing the light herself. She stopped walking towards Lapis and stared at me as my arms began to turn into light, similar to the effect of the two defusing gems. The light was sucked up into my gem, and I sat for a minute, staring at the stubs that had been left behind. My arms weren't bleeding, rather, they had what looked like shards of crystals sticking out of them, similar to the gem in my shoulder. My gem began to glow, letting out a large beam of light that, after it cut off from the gem, split in two, and flying towards the stumps that were my arms. The two separate orbs of light started to form into shapes. After a few minutes, they finally solidified into arms. However, they weren't like the arms I had previously. They were a lighter shade of blue than my gem, and I couldn't actually feel anything with them. No, they seemed fake. But, I could still move them as if they were a part of me. I used them to push myself off of the ground, sending myself into the air slightly. They were stronger than my normal arms.

"I don't know what just happened, but I am ready to beat someone into a pulp. Walk away now, and it won't be you." Jasper interrupted my thoughts, and I remembered what was about to happen. I began walking towards her. "So be it. But, just remember, I warned you. Now, prepare to die." She charged at me, a helmet forming on her head. She was going to headbutt me, but I just kept walking forward.

When she got withing range of me, I grabbed her and spun around with her in my arms. She seemed caught of guard by this, and pushed me away, skidding to a stop. She looked at me with anger in her eyes. She charged at me again, pulling her arm back for a punch. Somehow, everything seemed to be going in slow motion to me. She swung her arm, and I dodged, grabbed it, and turned her around. As she fell backwards, I caught her, and held her a few inches away from the ground. I noticed her gem begin to glow, and she must have seen mine do the same, because she pushed me away and starting throwing punch after punch at me. I continued to dodge them, moving in rhythm with the crashing of waves. When she had finally tired herself out, she tripped while throwing a punch at me. I grabbed her as she landed on top of me. Our gems began glowing brighter, and I could feel myself fading away.

* * *

I awoke to the sound of waves and Lapis yelling for Benny. I looked around and found that it was just me standing there with Lapis. I was confused for a moment, when a sudden flash of memories that weren't mine passed through me, and I realized what had happened. We had become a fusion. "SSSSOMEONE JUSSSST KILL ME NOW!" I said, unable to control myself. "SSSTUCK ASSS A FUSION AGAIN!" I put my hand, which was a nearly black gray color, against my head. "Who... I... Grey Topaz... Wait. No, I'm sssstill me. I am Benny Toite." I stopped talking, and realized that I had hissed. "What the... Why issss thissss happening?" I tried moving towards Lapis, and I noticed I couldn't feel my legs. I looked down, and what I saw answered all of my questions. Instead of legs, I saw instead a long serpentine tail.

"You two need to defuse. This seems... Unnatural." Lapis was talking to us from a distance, and I didn't know why, but I was starting to agree with Lapis.

"We're not defusssing. I like thisss feeling. I feel... ssstrong. Much more deadly than before. Thisss power isss kind of addicting." I said, not in control again. The longer I stayed fused, the less aware I was of what was happening. It was like living a dream, where nothing seemed real. Everything became blurry and gray. "He'sss losssing control, once I gain full control, then I will be ssstronger than anyone! That fusion won't win again, and I can take Rossse Quartz'sss gem back to home world."

"...No" I forced out, barely conscious. "I am not going to be taken over. I am ssstronger than thisss. I am ssstronger than YOU. I am ssstrong!" I started forcing my conscience away from Jasper's. I fought and fought, resisting the urge to just quit and let her take over. I felt myself starting to split apart from her. It... Hurt, like being ripped in half. I started noticing that I didn't want to separate from Jasper. It was as if I NEEDED her to feel... Complete. I couldn't understand this feeling. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally split up, and I felt hollow.

Jasper and I sat in silence for a few minutes before looking at each other. We both had the same look, as if we were still processing what had happened. Which, I was. Then she blushed and looked away. I just felt like something had disappeared from me. I just felt a unnerving sense of calm. "What just happened? Why... why can't I feel... anything?" I looked around, then saw Lapis. Not sure why, I was instantly filled with one emotion. Pure rage. I balled up my fists. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "What did you do to me, Jasper?"


	8. Heart Ache

'I-I don't know what's going on either. Please don't be mad at me." She said in as timid a voice as she could. Both Lapis and I were caught off guard by this and starred at her. She blushed harder and hid her face. "Stop staring at me, it makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Stop acting like a child and help me figure this out!" I blurted out, making Jasper flinch. "Sorry, I can't control my anger. Maybe, since I'm half human, when we fused... I guess we swapped emotions? But that doesn't make any sense! How could emotions just be swapped?"

Lapis approached us both. "I have a theory. Maybe, it didn't swap your emotions. Maybe you to fused and brought out emotions you both already had, strengthening them, but also pushing back your other emotions. So, you might be able to fix this by fusing again, but..."

"Should we really risk that? With the way Jasper is now, she could finally be a friend to the Crystal Gems, and I don't know if fusing will turn out very well anyway. I barely separated from her before. However, I don't know if staying like this would be a good idea for me. I already had violent outbursts before. With me being so easy to anger, I might put everyone in danger." I stood up and helped Jasper up. "Maybe... Lapis, I may need your help."

"What do you have in mind?" Jasper asked, butting in to the conversation.

"If you to fuse first, then I join in, maybe I won't lose control again. It will keep you from taking control, and let us both go back to normal." I said, looking at her. I would be surprised if she even agreed.

"I won't try and take control of us again. Don't worry, no need to be so cautious." I turned to Jasper, completely caught off guard by this.

"How do I know I can trust you? You just tried to kill Lapis, almost took over when we were fused, and for all I know, when you go back to normal, you may double cross me!"

"Well, you can either trust me, and we can go back to normal now, or you can risk getting Lapis hurt. Because, even though I'm being nice to you, I still can't stand her. There's probably no way I will let her get away from me without hurting her before we defuse, and that will make it so much easier to crush her afterwards that..."

"ENOUGH!" I said, holding my hand up. I looked down, and gritted my teeth. "Fine. I won't risk you hurting her, so we'll fuse again. I don't trust you, but if I could beat you once, I can do it again." I held out my hand. "But trust me, you don't want to try anything funny."

* * *

"So, Amethyst, I've noticed you guys have been working on a drill in that barn of yours. Need any help?" I asked, sitting around, trying to get my mind off of Berry.

"Nah, I think we're about done with it. How about you go hang out with Steven. I think they're all up at the barn anyway, so you can see if there's anything that needs to be done." Amethyst was laying in the floor face down.

"Well, will you come with me if I go?" I asked. I didn't really want to be alone with my thoughts for all that long. "I'd like to have someone to talk to."

"Jeez, you humans and being such babies. Can't you go on your own, Zina?" Amethyst groaned and rolled over to look at the ceiling, then at me.

"Come on... What if I carry you?" I asked, realizing this may be the only way to convince her. "Oh, and I'll buy you some snacks later, too."

She jumped up off the floor, a wide smile on her face. "You've got yourself a deal!" She jumped on me and knocked the wind out of me.

"Fine, but first you have to shape shift into something small... How about a cat?" She got up and thought about it for a minute. "I mean, you can curl up in my arms, sleep, and be warm. I don't really see a downside to it." She nodded at me and shape shifted into a small purple cat. I picked her up and held her between my arms and my chest. I made my way out of the house and we headed towards the barn.

As we approached the hill on the other side of town, I could slightly make out the sound of a ukulele, chords drifting through the wind. I began to hum with it once I caught on to the pattern. Eventually, it stopped again, but I continued to hum.

When we got to the top of the hill, I saw Steven laying against lion, playing the ukulele. I sat amethyst down next to Garnet and Pearl, and walked up to Peridot, who was the only one still working. "So, what's this drill for?"

She sighed in annoyance. "We are trying to stop the cluster. The only way to do that is to go to the center of the earth. To do that... well, that should be obvious. Now, if you're not going to help, then go sit down with the rest of these clods and get out of my way."

"Actually, I was going to help. But, what is this cluster thing? And if it's such a big deal, why are you the only one working?" I was looking at the drill now, completely baffled by how it works. I was tempted to push some buttons to find out, but I knew that would be a bad idea.

Peridot stopped what she was doing and looked at me, confused and a little angry. "You're right. These clods are just sitting around, and the planet is at risk. If we do not hurry, then everything will be obliterated!" She walked over to Steven. "Steven."

"Hi." He opened his eyes and stopped playing his ukulele.

"Why did we stop working on the drill?!" She gestured towards the drill. I waved. They didn't seem to notice. "Why are they just sitting there looking at nothing?!"

"We worked hard and we deserved to take it easy for a little bit. I mean, just look at that view!" He moved to be able to look behind lion. "It's beautiful."

"It's going to be blown to OBLIVION by the cluster if we don't get back to work!" She threw her arms in the air to express her distress. I laughed slightly at this.

"Working hard is important, but feeling good is important, too."

"What are you talking about?!" She put the drill against her head and pulled the trigger.

"Hey, bzzzz. What is that, uh, a C?" He plucked a string on the ukulele.

"The drill?" She pulled the trigger again.

"Yeah." She pulled the trigger harder, creating a higher pitched sound. Steven gasped. "Oh my gosh! Now it's music!"

"Music?"

"Yeah, it's music. Like this. Do re mi fa sol la ti do." He played the notes in progression as he sang them.

"Do mi so do."

"Isn't it pretty?" He continued to strum the ukulele as they talked.

"That's exceedingly simple. Do mi so ti."

"We're making music."

"What is the point? You're not making anything."

"Well, if it isn't anything, than why does it sound so good?"

"I suppose it's just interest, do mi so do, devoid of substance or purpose, a hypothetical pattern, do mi so ti, for the satisfaction of bringing it to completion!"

"Sure!"

"Do mi so ti. Interest without meaning, solutions without problems."

"And then you just add words, here's what I've been working on." He began to sing. "Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet Earth. Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth? Oo-woah-o, come on and sing it with me."

"Sing?"

"The words relate to the key."

"Key?" She held up a key, confusion on her face.

"If it's a pattern, if it's a pattern, then just repeat after me. Life and death and love and birth."

"Life and death and love and birth."

"Now you sing mi fa mi mi fa mi ti la."

"And peace and war on the planet Earth." They sang together.

"Yes, yes, that's it!"

"That's so easy."

"Yeah, but that's what's fun about it. You should write something, you should write a song!"

"About what?"

"Whatever your thinking!"

I turned and looked away from everyone, away from the sunset. "That's easier said than done." I began to sing along now, secluded from everyone else. "I don't know what to do! I just want to cry. I feel so lost without you, but i'll try not to pry. You have to make your own choice, and you need to move on. Couldn't you have taken me with, i miss you now that you're gone. Life and death and love and birth, HA, and peace and war on the planet Earth. Is there anything that's worse, than peace and love on the planet earth. I walked over and sat next to lion. He didn't move, so I laid against him. After a while, everyone got up. I watched as pearl started to make a fire. Amethyst brought some snacks, or what was left of them after she got a hold of them. Garnet brought over a log for everyone to sit on. After we had been sitting there for a few minutes, I noticed Steven talking to Peridot. After a little coercing, Peridot got up and climbed onto a stump next to the fire.

"Everyone, Peridot is gonna sing for us!" Steven said excitedly, quieting everyone else so she could sing.

After a moment of awkward silence, Peridot began to sing. "I guess we're already here, I guess we already know. We've all got something to fear, we've all got nowhere to go. I think you're all INSANE, but I guess I am, too." She blushed slightly. "Anybody would be if they were stuck on Earth with you."

Steven got up and started laughing. "Yeah!" HE seemed excited, but I could tell by the words she sang that this wasn't a friendly jest on the group.

I walked over to her and looked her dead in the eye. She looked at me with a smug expression, and I was filled with pity and fear for the gem who stood before me. "Did you like my song?"

I grabbed her arm and began pulling her away from the group. "We need to talk about something alone, and I don't want the other's to hear it. So come on." After we got out of hearing distance from the other's who had given us weird looks, I turned to her and looked at her in the eyes again. "Explain to me what this cluster is and what will happen if we don't destroy it."

She looked at me, as if realizing how much of the fear I heard from her song, and began to get anxious. She started explaining what the cluster was and how it was made. The more she spoke, the more upset she became. She told me how if we didn't stop it, it would blow up the planet, and kill everything on it. By this point, she started talking about being trapped and never getting back home. She was in tears, pacing back and forth and getting upset about how she was going to die on this foreign planet, away from all the people she knew, all because she had to work with such primitive people.

I grabbed her and pulled her in close to me. "Peridot, calm down. I realize you're scared, and you have a good reason to be. But remember, at least we're trying to help. That home world you miss so much? You don't see them here trying to rescue you. You've been gone for such a long time, and still no one has shown up. Maybe they've given up on you. But we haven't. On Earth, the feeling of panic you have for your own safety? We humans feel that same way, but for everyone, not just ourselves. We care about each other and want to see everyone happy."

She pulled away from me slightly and looked up. "I don't understand. Why worry about anyone else? If they aren't any help to everyone and can't fend for themselves, then why not let them just die?"

"It's called empathy. We want people to feel good, so that we can feel good. If they are upset, we also feel upset. And, say the two of us were to get into a fight with a giant monster, no gems around but us. What would you do?"

"I'd let you fight it and build some machine to subdue the creature while you distracted it."

"Now, say there was no technology for you to build with, or I couldn't distract the creature long enough for you to build the machine. If the monster targeted you, then what would you do?"

"I assume I would run and try not to get hurt."

"Say the monster is faster than you and you couldn't get away. It has you and there is nothing you could do. You're about to die. Are you okay with this?"

"Of course not! I don't want to die."

"So, I would jump in and attack the monster, protecting you, even if I got hurt. You want to know why? Because if it were me, I wouldn't want to die either. The difference? I can fight back. I could defeat the monster. I could protect you. That's how humans are. We help the people we care about when they are in trouble, no matter the cost. And, maybe somewhere in the future, the people we care about will come back and do the same. Now, there are exceptions to this. I know some pretty mean and selfish humans. But, eventually, if you show them enough kindness, it will rub off."

"That seems redundant and stupid. Humans are full of emotions that just slow down progress."

"Maybe, but we're also full of willpower, and that is what helps us get things done that most people would think is impossible. Rose Quartz and the other Crystal Gems, that's why they are here instead of home world. They wish to protect humans and let the love, empathy, and willpower humans posses thrive. Home world only care about themselves and aren't worried about what planets they destroy or species they kill to expand. And, when there is nowhere left to expand, then where do you go, what will you do?"

"I... Guess I never thought about it like that."

"Exactly."

* * *

After a series of fusing and defusing, Jasper and I had finally gotten our emotions sorted out. I had to restrain Jasper, who wanted to hurt Lapis still. But, she seemed uninterested with me. As if she didn't want anything to do with me now. I asked Lapis if there was a way to restrain Jasper without physically holding her. She told me I could poof her, but I thought that was a bad idea. As the day was coming to an end, I thought about the things that the crystal gems were doing. I looked at Jasper. I was getting cramps holding her in place.

"I'm gonna let you go, Jasper, but if you try anything, I will poof you. And don't think I can't." I said, feeling her shake in fear. I let her go and sat between her and Lapis. Lapis stared off into the horizon, watching the waves roll against each other. Jasper watched the fire I had started click and crackle, the orange embers reflecting off of her eyes. I sat in silence for a few minutes, awkward tension filling the air. Finally, I let out a long sigh. "Who want's to hear a story?" I asked, getting the attention of both gems.

"Why would I want to listen to some ridiculous tale that has no truth to it?" Jasper scowled, then turned back to the fire.

"Is it a funny story?" Lapis asked, hints of a grin appearing and disappearing on her face.

"Not really. I mean, there are some laughs, but not much." I said, shrugging.

"Oh." She looked disappointed and turned away from me. The awkward silence returned again. I stared at Lapis, who was lying in the sand and watching the water again. For a few minutes, I became mesmerized by her.

"Beautiful." She looked at me, and caught me staring. "The way the stars reflect off the water, and the way that it looks like the ocean breaks off into space. You were staring at the water, right?" She nodded. She went back to staring at the water. I waited a few minutes, then spoke again. "It pales in comparison, though."

She turned to me again, confusion on her face. "In comparison to what?"

"The ocean of hate that Jasper has in her." I said, smiling. She thought for a second, then began laughing. "Whale, I guess she really wants to 'tuna' us out." I heard Jasper mumbling something under her breath. Lapis started laughing even harder. "Yeah, in my school, I was always known as the class clown fish." Lapis was rolling now, and Jasper was groaning. After Lapis finally calmed down, I looked at her and smiled.

"What?" She said, still smiling, an occasional giggle escaping from her.

"It's just... You're really pretty when you smile." Lapis looked shocked for a second, then blushed, her face becoming a darker blue. I laughed at this, and laid back in the sand.

After a while of sitting there, everything was quite again, and I started to fall asleep. I had my eyes closed, when I heard footsteps in the sand. I sat up and looked around. I couldn't see anything, so I laid back down. I closed my eyes again, assuming the footsteps were in my head. I was listening to the waves and was almost asleep again, when suddenly, I felt a sharp, intense pain in my chest. I opened my eyes to see an arrow through my chest.


	9. The Truth

I reached for the arrow, but when my hand connected with it, light exploded from it, and I felt the same sharp sensation spreading through my chest. The arrow began to fade away, but the pain continued. I sat up and looked around. Lapis and Jasper were gone now, and the fire had died down. I looked at my chest to see what had happened. My shirt had a hole in it, but underneath it, I didn't have a scratch on me. "What the? How did I just take an arrow to the chest and still not have any wounds." Pain shot through my chest and I coughed. Some blood hit the sand. "I knew I had to have gotten hurt. But what happened to the arrow wound? Or the arrow, for that matter." I looked around and still didn't see anyone around me. I shrugged and got up. I had slept long enough, I had a mission to take care of.

* * *

We had spent most of the day working on the drill, and we were just about done, so I walked away from the group. I had wore myself out mentally. I'm not good with electronics. Except for one. I pulled my phone out and put my headphones in. I started listening to music, keeping it low in case I was needed. The gems had me running back and forth to get tools, mostly. I didn't really have any clue on how it all worked. Pearl and Peridot tried to explain it a few times, but it was all over my head. Retrieving tools was Pearls idea. Peridot just kept yelling at me. I sat in the grass for a few minutes while the others talked, when I heard Lion roar. Startled, I turned around and noticed everyone gathering on top of him. I was running over, when Lion made a portal and ran through it, leaving me behind.

"Thanks, guys. I really feel like part of the team." I sighed, then headed into the barn. There was a pickup truck inside it, and I decided to lay in the bed of the truck. I continued to listen to music for a while, passing the time and taking it easy, when I heard the gems talking again. I figured they didn't need my help, so I just continued to lay there. I looked up when I heard footsteps inside the barn. Peridot was holding a small, diamond-like object, and seemed to be trying to keep it hidden.

A few seconds later, Steven walked in and the two started talking. I wasn't sure what was going on, but they didn't really seem to notice me there. I took out my headphones and tried to listen in on their conversation. I caught a few things, like Yellow Diamond being pretty much the perfect gem. Then, Steven got out of the truck and slammed the door. Peridot was screaming. Steven asked what the object was, and when he threatened to break it, Peridot said it was a communicator to home world. Steven got mad and ran out of the barn. After a few minutes, Peridot began honking the horn. I got annoyed and tapped on the glass.

"ZINA!" Peridot jumped when she heard me.

"Do you mind not honking that horn? It's hurting my ears." I said, irritated at her.

"Of course, as long as you let me out!" She was against the window now, practically begging me to help her.

"Hmm... maybe. But first, what do you plan on contacting Yellow Diamond for? I already told you that they have abandoned you."

"You're wrong! If I can contact her, then maybe I can convince her to destroy the cluster for us."

"And if she doesn't want to?"

"That's what the drill is for. WE can try to stop it. You had a valid point about what you said before. Also, there are things here on this planet that home world could use, so destroying the planet for one weapon is pointless."

"I don't know, I feel like this was the whole argument that Rose Quartz had with them in the first place. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course! My Diamond wouldn't do something so reckless as to destroy so many resources. She's smarter than that."

I felt unsure about this, but I agreed to letting her out. After I did, she got in a giant robot that had been stored away, and tore the door off of the truck and threw it through the wall of the barn. I just shook my head and walked outside. If she felt like getting beat up for taking the communicator by force, then so be it.

* * *

I walked up to the street and made my way to the other side of beach city, when a thought crossed my mind. I was going up against a gem, whom I knew very little about, on my own. How am I going to be able to beat him on my own? I decided it was a bad idea to try and take him on alone without any information. I turned around and headed back up the hill towards the lighthouse. I figured now would be as good a time as any to just talk to him. Maybe I could figure out more about all of this without a conflict.

As I approached the door to the lighthouse, I decided to knock instead of just barge in. Before my hand could even make contact with the door, it opened, my dad standing in the door way looking down at me with a uneasy smile. "Benny! Jeez, I didn't know when..." He looked down at my clothes and his eyes went wide. "What happened to you?!" He pulled me inside.

"Ha! What HASN'T happened to me. I fought with Garnet, broke my ribs, went through a very painful healing process, fought with Garnet, again, Steven, and apparently my childhood friend Zina, lost all use of my arms, LOST my arms, grew back these weird... Things." I held my arms up in a 'look at me' gesture. "And, I became a fusion for the first time. I did swap emotions with the other gem, but hey. I worked things out. Also, I'm kinda crushing on someone, but I won't think to much of it. I don't know where she even is right now. Or if I'll ever see her again."

"It isn't Zina, is it?" He asked pretty quickly. I found his reaction strange. It wasn't like him... Actually most of the way he's acted since I got home was like him.

"No, why do you ask?" I gave him an inquisitive look.

"Oh, uh, well... She's dangerous. I don't know if you should be around her very much."

"You're dodging the question!" I slammed my hand against the wall, producing a loud metallic clang. For a minute, we sat in silence. "Every time there is some kind of important information to be talked about, you freeze up and avoid giving me a true answer. So, who is she? Why are you avoiding telling me the truth?" I looked him dead in the eye, trying to stay calm.

He let out a long sigh and looked up at the ceiling. He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I can't hide it from you anymore. It's about your mother."

"What about her? Isn't she dead?" I relaxed a bit.

"Well, yes. But not from what you think caused it. You... are actually not my son. Not genetically, anyway. You were a product of my experimentation. Your mother, she was pregnant with you and gave me permission to use the two of you in my experiments. We were testing the effects of splicing a living gem into unborn human children. It was practically similar to the Kindergartens home world had used here on earth. The difference is that we were creating the gems from inside the human children and using the mother as a host to let the gem grow. However, the process had worked differently with you than it had with the other test subjects. You became unstable. Normally, you would have been born in another 8 months. But, for some reason, no matter how much nutrients we gave your mother, you just continued to absorb everything. You grew at an exponential rate, and were born in 4 months instead of the predicted time. Your mother, however, was so weak at this point that she didn't make it through your birth. You had pretty much absorbed her from the inside out. It was you, Benny, who killed her, even if it was unintentional."

I was stunned. Not only did my mother give permission to use me in an experiment, but I killed her. I will never get to know who my mother is because I killed her on the day of my birth. "I... I don't understand. What does this have to do with Zina?"

"The two of you were born on the same day. She was also used in the experiments. I was the one who raised her, too. I quit working for them after you two were born. I couldn't stand losing another patient because of my mistakes. That's the reason why we lived next door to each other. Her mother had made up the story that her father had left them, and I told you that your mother was killed in a car accident to spare your feelings. While we live next door to each other, I helped Zina's mother with any financial problems that she had. So, I don't know who either of your biological fathers are, but because of me, I cost you your mother's life. I apologize."

"That still doesn't explain why it would be bad if I liked Zina."

"Oh, come on. Surely you're smart enough to figure that out on your own now."

I sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking over all of the information I was just given. Then it came to me. "Neither of us know our biological fathers. For all we know, it could be the same man."

"Exactly. And, I've tried testing your DNA to see if you two were related, but the results came back as incomplete. The doctors said that there was a crystalline substance that was in the way of any kind of results they could get. The strange thing was that it was only a problem in YOUR DNA sample."

"So, I'm less human than Zina?" I looked at my arms, and remembered how the wounds had clotted themselves with crystals before being completely replaced by these artificial arms.

"I can't say for sure. As far as I can tell, you're just as human as she is, but there are strange occurrences that only happen when you are involved. Like, your hair turns into crystals when it's cut. I can prick your finger and get blood out of it like a human, but if you were to receive a huge gash, it would close its self off almost instantly. You have bones that are harder to break than most humans, and you, as we can see, are able to replace your body parts with the same projections as a normal gem. Do you mind if I try something?"

Hesitantly I agreed. He brought over a knife and grabbed my right arm. "First, we test if they still feel pain." He made a slit on my index finger. It stung slightly and I winced. "I'll take that as a yes. Now, what I am going to do next... May hurt much, MUCH worse. It's up to you to proceed."

"What are you going to do?" My arm twitched slightly.

"Well, when a gem like myself takes a great amount of damage, or what would be a mortal wound, we recede into our gems and reform."

"I know that already." I was growing impatient.

"So, my theory is that if these arms are projections..."

"Then they can be poofed and rebuilt. But, I didn't have any control over them rebuilding before."

"Well, maybe your gem works independently from your brain. Not necessarily against it, but like how a fusion works as one being with two minds."

"So it decides if I should have my weapon or if I should regenerate new limbs? But, what if it was to get mad at me for some reason? Could it decide to just... Not work? Then what, I'll be stuck in a fight with no arms and no weapon because I made it angry?"

"I would assume so. This is all new to me, too. I have no idea what to expect from either of you."

I took in a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. We have to at least test it out." I closed my eyes and turned my head away. The next thing I knew, I felt a sharp pain through my arm. It only lasted a few seconds, then I couldn't feel anything. I opened my eyes and saw that my arm was gone. I sat for a few minutes, trying to move what used to be my fingers. It was strange, I felt like they were still there and moving, but I could see that nothing was happening. The two of us sat for a few minutes waiting for it to regenerate. When it didn't do anything, I started to worry. "Um, should it be back by now?"

"Be patient. A regeneration can take weeks at a time for the average gem. If it doesn't show up right away, then just give it time."

"I don't have time, though! I have to have my arm back before I can st... start work later today. I got a job at the doughnut shop."

He laughed. "Well, that's good. You can use that money to help pay for car repairs."

I rolled my eyes at him and chuckled slightly. But, I still had to ask him one question. "So... Why try and disguise the house? I already know what it really looks like. More importantly, who was the woman I heard you talking to, and why does she want to know about the gems?"

"Wha...?" He sighed and grinned. "I thought I heard you come in before. Well, This house is actually used as a force field generator. I activated it when we moved in. I had heard about the home world invasion before we moved here and thought they might target this city again."

"So, the woman?" I was confused now. He was trying to protect the city, and he's been creating gem hybrids, but why would he be watching the Crystal gems, and if he's protecting earth, why isn't he working with the gems directly?

"That was Ivory. She is the one in charge of making the hybrids and protecting earth from home world. Well, when I say in charge, I mean running the organization that I worked with before you came along."

"Wait, Ivory? Isn't that made of bones? How could she be a gem?"

"She's not. Like you, she is a hybrid. The first hybrid, in fact. It's a long story."

"I have some time." I sat down and waited for him to begin.


	10. Blast from the Past

"Well, we'll start at the beginning. There was once a time when gems did not exist on this planet. The humans were a primitive species then, much more so than they are now. Around the time of the knights and feudal lords. Kings and Queens. Well, we arrived here, not aware of the organic beings that lived here. When they saw us, it was a difficult time. If we had slipped up, there could have been an all out war on the planet between gems and humans. Luckily, we were able to convince them that they could trust us."

"At first, the expedition was merely to survey the planet. Rose Quartz, or Pink Diamond as she used to be known, was fascinated by the Earth customs. Music, families, and love. She wanted to know more about them. I however was fascinated for a completely different reason. On the home world, I was a medical gem. That is to say, I helped poofed gems by incubating them and keeping them protected, or repairing broken or cracked gems. However, protecting the poofed gems meant that I had to guard them with my life. I was a renowned fighter and trap maker, protecting gems without actually needing to battle was my strength. But I'm getting side tracked."

"Well, as a medical gem, I was fascinated by the biology of the humans and other organic creatures. When we first traveled to Earth, I was sent as the medic to help with any wounds that may have been caused while on the planet. While we were here, I studied the humans and learned how there bodies worked. I was amazed to see such an advanced, and yet hindering system. It worked together perfectly, and if anything was messed up, then it could shut down the rest of the body."

"It was very amusing at first. However, as I studied them more and more, I became attached to them. I had made many human friends, and even had fallen for a woman, even though she was of another species. As our time on earth passed, she continued to age. She would constantly complain about not having children, but she knew that I was unable to give her what she wanted. Eventually I realized that I needed to move on to make her happy. I had set her up with one of our good friends, and the two seemed happy together, even though I was not."

"It seemed like such a short time in comparison to gem life-spans, but they had a child. A daughter. Then a son. As the children grew older, I had been pretty close to an uncle to them... Until one day, their parents had passed. They realized that I had not aged and was still alive, and they grew angry with me. I never spoke to them again after that."

"A few hundred more years had passed after that, and I had heard of a civil war between my own people. When I went to check on the situation, I found Rose Quartz had turned on home world in order to protect the planet Earth. Having spent so much time on Earth, I had grown attached to the humans. I didn't know the full details about the situation, but I knew that other planets home world had invaded had been left almost completely destroyed. I had already learned from my past experience treating the humans that they could not breath without oxygen, and if their planet was destroyed for home worlds purposes, the atmosphere would have been lost, meaning all the humans would have died."

"Naturally, I sided with Rose Quartz. It was strange, going against everything I had ever known before. During the war, I was initially a medic, like I had been for most of my life. However, I had at one point seen Rose Quartz using what looked like the native wildlife to fight for her. However, the animals had abilities similar to gems, along with odd color patterns unlike the animals I had seen thus far. I started spending more time following Rose and watching her. One night, when the battle was at a stand still and everyone was resting and being treated for wounds, I caught Rose sneaking off away from everyone on a pink lion. I used my weapon, which can be used for other things than fighting, to tie myself to the lion at the last second. I was dragged through a portal and found a secret lair that Rose apparently kept from the rest of the gems."

"She caught me, however, and I had to explain why I had followed her. Amused by my intrigue in her creations, she showed me how it was done. She had been using her own life force to give the animals the magical qualities of a gem. I was appalled. I knew the dangers of using your own life force to give life to others. Many gems had turned to dust for exactly the same thing. I remembered that Rose had healing properties from my years of research on home world, and I suggested an alternative method to what she was already doing. That's where my organization started. I began using Rose's tears and injecting them into organic beings. It worked, but not quite how I had anticipated. It was this that created Rose's garden, bringing Rose's to life for her. We used her tears to water them instead of the water from Earth."

"As the years went on, I began developing new ideas for how to accomplish these combinations between organic and geo-organic life. I realized that if we used the minerals needed to create a gem with the process used in kindergartens, and put them into the organic life, we could attempt to create a mixture of the two. However, Rose was not happy about the idea. She banished me from helping her. I continued my experiments, anyway. I had found an engineer who agreed with my ideas, and we left to test the theory on our own."

"First, we began testing it on animals. We tried and tried, but the animals would always die from the results. Then one day, we were left with only an animal skeleton. The engineer suggested that we wait and try again when we found more living creatures, but I had realized why Rose had been against the idea. We had lost so many lives in the process of experimentation, I was becoming discouraged. I didn't want to lose any more lives, so I was determined to use the dead instead. At first, I thought it had failed as well. I was almost to the breaking point, when one of the skeletons began to move. It was only slightly before it broke down and became dust, leaving a few gem shards in it's place. I knew we were on to something. I tried time and time again, but the results were the same. Then I realized, maybe the bones didn't have enough nutrients to support the gem."

"Years after the war, we were still continuing our research. I had begun to create life using dead animals instead of living ones. The gems reanimated the body, and giving the animal magical abilities. I thought I had finally figured it out, so we tested it on a human body. It was difficult to acquire one without directly killing a human. I had spent too many years protecting them for that. Finally, after searching for months for a test subject, we were in old England when we came across the body of a woman who had been dissected severely. She was long past dead, but I knew we could help her. I grabbed her, being careful to not lose any parts of her body. I had to buy a few replacement organs, however. Who or whatever killed her, they had removed her organs. At the time, I had no idea that I had found a victim of the famous Jack the Ripper."

"Back at our lab, I had stitched her up and frozen her body, preserving it. Once the organs had shown up and been put into her, and the equipment was ready for use, we thawed her out and began the procedure. At first, it had no effect. I waited for the same amount of time that we had with our animal test subjects, but it still was not working. I was about to give up and bury the body when my colleague had noticed a accelerated rate of decay in her flesh. We watched as her skin began to dissolve, her body caving in on itself, when all that was left was her bones. At first, we didn't notice anything odd about it, but upon closer inspection, we found that her bones had become crystallized, her ligaments still present. We were in the process of examining what was left of her body when she began to grow a new body, a projection similar to a gems. It was the same color as her bones, the exception being that her hair was a more pure white color and her irises were a gray color."

"She was a completely new person, but she retained all of her human memories. It was fascinating beyond belief."

"So, you created a... Zombie, human-gem hybrid? That's messed up!"

"Well, she was dead and we gave her life, along with creating something completely new. And, she functions perfectly fine."

"Okay. But, I won't hesitate to take her out if I need to." The idea of something that unnatural was disturbing to me.

* * *

I was sitting downhill from the others who were still at the barn. I thought about what had happened with Peridot and Yellow Diamond, and how the others had accepted her even though she had tried to harm them so many times. Benny has tried to help them multiple times, and only attacked them once, which wasn't even his fault. And yet, she gets to stay, after making mistake after mistake, and Benny has to leave after one mistake. "Yo, whatcha thinking about, dude?" I turned to see Amethyst walking up to me. She sat beside me and I let out a sigh.

"Well, I don't like the idea of you guys letting Peridot stay. I mean, I understand that you are trying to turn her good, but why does SHE get to stay?!" I threw my hands in the air and fell back against the ground.

"Still bent outta shape about Benny, huh?" She let out a guilty laugh. "Yeah, I don't really like it either. I mean, Sometimes you do stupid stuff. Besides, I thought he was cool. But I understand why they wanted him gone. With Peridot, she's small and weak. We could poof her easily. With Benny, he is strong. he was able to take Garnet in a fight, and he's half human. We don't even know if we can poof him. If he went crazy and hurt someone, we would have to..."

"NO! It won't come to that. I know he's good, he just needs time to work things out. I trust him. And I could stay with him to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."

"But he already hurt you. Are you sure that you could stop him?"

"I held back before. I didn't want to hurt him then."

"And if you had to hurt him, are you sure you could bring yourself to do it?" She shrugged, and got up. I couldn't think of a response, because I wasn't sure. She walked away and left me to think.

* * *

I had finally learned what my dad was doing, and I knew the truth about my mother. It was almost too much information to take in. I made my way down to the road and walked towards It's a Wash, hoping to find Greg. When I got there and he wasn't there, I started asking around town to see if anyone knew where he was. After about half an hour of wandering around town, a boy who, if I remember correctly, is named Onion pointed me towards the hill on the other side of town. I made my way there, not sure why Greg would be there. I started making my way up the hill, still not sure where I was going, when I heard laughter from voices that were familiar to me. I looked around and saw Zina sitting on the ground alone. I walked up beside her as quietly as possible and sat beside her. She was so lost in thought, she didn't even notice me. I moved closer to her and tapped her lightly. Still nothing.

"ZINA!" She jumped, caught off guard by me shouting in her ear. "Hey, what are you thinking about so much that you didn't even notice your best friend sitting beside you?"

"Benny?! You're ba..." Her eyes fell to my right arm and she stopped talking.

"Yeah, I'm back. I found out some info on my dad that I need to relay to the gems. I don't know if they want to see me right now, but it's important." She sat in silence, a horrified look frozen on her face as she starred at my arm. "Hey! Eye's are up here." I said, jokingly before she finally let out a scream. I rolled my eyes.

"What happened to your arm?!" She looked like she was about to puke.

"Heh. I guess, you are what happened to it." I explained to her what happened to me while I was gone. In one day, I had gone through so much. "I mean, I'm not mad that you paralyzed my arms. I would have probably hurt someone more than I did if not. So, thanks. But, now I have the problem of only having one arm."

"Should we take you to the hospital?" She still looked ready to puke.

"I think this is beyond human medical practices. However, Steven may be able to help." I regretted bringing this up, but I knew it was the only way, and that was how I was going to get better. "However, I am really exhausted. I think I'm just gonna sleep for a few days."

"A few days?! Don't you need to eat?" Zina was stunned.

"No, I think I may be more gem than human. I can't really explain much about it, even if I knew about it, because I'm..." I fell over and blacked out. I couldn't even feel the impact from hitting the ground. Maybe Zina caught me. I never really asked.


	11. Wake Up, Team Up, Break Up

"What is all of this?! He's barely human or gem! Aside from that, is he going to be okay?!" Pearl was shouting and pacing the room, making me even more uncomfortable than I already was about Benny's condition. He had been unconscious for about 3 months.

"Calm down, pearl. He's going to be fine." I was staring intently at Benny, watching for any signs that his condition may be getting worse. "As a matter of fact, he is waking up right now." As Garnet said this, Benny began to groan and put his hand on his head. I jumped up off the floor, running to the side of the bed to kneel beside him. He opened his eyes and grinned that stupid overconfident grin of his. My vision blurred from the tears flooding my eyes as I leaned forward and hugged him.

* * *

I awoke to see Zina kneeling beside me. I was in Steven's bed, and Zina was wearing a concerned look, which made me grin at her. She started to tear up and hugged me, and I just sat there, confused. "Um, are you okay? Did..." I started whispering. "Amethyst eat all of your food?" I heard Pearl and Garnet laugh, then Amethyst and Steven entered the room, causing the two to laugh harder. Zina looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes, then looked at me angrily.

"BENNY TOITE, DON'T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" She said, punching me in the chest. I let out a resounding "Oomph" as the air left my body. It took a few seconds for me to catch my breath, and tears had formed from the lack of oxygen.

"What... are you... Taking about?" I gasped while regaining my normal breathing pattern. I took in a long breath, then let it back out. "What did I do that was so bad? I looked around and noticed a few things. The house was a bit more broken than what I had last remembered it, and there was a new gem sitting in the room, and a lack of two gems who had previously entered the room. "Where did Steven and Amethyst just go?"

The mystery gem jumped up and waved it's two arms at me. "S'up, dude? Finally awake?" I looked at her quizzically, and she noticed that I didn't realize who she was. She held out a hand, and I grabbed it. "Smokey Quartz. Or, as you might remember US, Steven and Amethyst."

Shocked, I let out a gasp, then I smiled more than I think I ever had. My smile must have been contagious, because she had started smiling with me. I could hear Garnet screaming behind her. "OHMAGERD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! But wait... What? How long have I been unconscious?"

"Dude, it's been three months." The smiles faded. "A lot has happened since you were unconscious. We bubbled... well, Steven bubbled the Cluster, we finally found Lapis and Jasper." I winced at the names, my arms tingling. And... Jasper is corrupted. We also fought a couple of Rubies who were trying to kill m... I mean, Steven. And," She grinned, "Pearl found a girl!" Pearl started stammering in the background as Smokey and I laughed.

"That's great Pearl! I'm happy for you." I said as I stopped laughing. "But, all the happiness aside, I have some... grim, if not dangerous news." I jumped into the center of the room and motioned everyone to sit. Steven and Amethyst unfused, they all sat staring at me. "So... where to start? I talked to my dad again."

"YOU WHAT?!" Pearl stood up and pulled out her spear. "I should have known! You were never on..." Garnet put a hand on her shoulder, and she sat back down, spear still in hand.

"As I was saying, I talked to my dad. The woman he was talking to was NOT yellow diamond, it seems. The good news is, I know who it really is, and she isn't CURRENTLY a threat to us." The nodded, looking suspicious. "The bad news is that she's in charge of making more people like me and... she shouldn't be alive."

"Wait, an army of gem hybrids? That could be potentially beneficial or hazardous to this planet." Pearl was stating out loud the exact words that I had been thinking. "But this woman, why should she not be alive? Who is she?"

"The first human-gem hybrid. Even before Steven. And... She was made through scientifically infusing a gem into a dead body. What was left was a skeleton and a gem shell to cover it. It's basically a zombie. And my dad made her. Apparently, my dad defied the wishes of Rose Quartz and proceeded with this experiment in secret." I looked at Zina and grinned awkwardly. "Also, we... may be siblings."

They all looked dumbfounded. "This isn't good." Garnet said finally. "If this monster is to turn against us, we have a whole army of gem hybrids to contend against."

"If it wasn't already hard enough for us to deal with Home World with such few numbers." Amethyst groaned.

"Maybe they can be friendly. Like Benny and Zina?" Steven is always so hopeful.

"But if the aren't, we don't stand a chance. And if they are half human, they are completely unpredictable." Pearl was mumbling to herself about what could be done.

"One more thing before we move on. As you can see, I am missing an arm, and the other one is a projection from my gem. First, Steven, do you think you can heal my arm?"

"I can try." He made his way towards me and kissed where the stump of my arm is. I could feel it shaking, and then hit started to reform. It wasn't a pretty sight, and pearl covered Steven's eyes, thank goodness. When it was done, I felt drained of energy, but my arm, the human one, was back in place.

"Second, it seems that my gem and I, from what I can gather, could be two separate beings. When I was in danger fighting... Jasper, my arms reformed. I think it had to do with me being in danger. The gem didn't want to be harmed, so it helped me the only way it knew how."

"Why are you telling us that?" Amethyst sounded bored. "What does it have to do with us? We can't do anything about it."

"If MY gem is alive, and there is an army of artificial gem hybrids, then that means a potential way of stopping the problem without harming any humans. We just need a way to convince the gems that they posses that they won't be harmed."

"I... might be able to do that. It seems that I have a way to communicate with people subconsciously while I'm dreaming. But, I need to meet the person first, or I won't know who I'm looking for." Steven caught everyone off guard with this.

"That... That's good! I will try and find as many of these hybrids as possible, that way I can bring them to you for you to meet. Then, you can try to communicate with their gems and convince them that we aren't their enemies." I was excited to have found a solution so fast. After a bit of discussion with Garnet about the plan, we decided that I would take Lapis, Peridot, and Zina with me to find them.

* * *

Zina and I headed towards the barn to fetch Peridot and Lapis. "So... Siblings?" Zina finally got a chance to talk to me away from all of the others. "How are we siblings? Your dad and my mom were never together. She would have said something to me about it if it were true." I could her the doubt in her words, along with the pain.

"You probably think I'm just saying this to have an excuse for us not to be together." I saw her tense up from that. Bulls-eye. "But... My dad isn't related to me biologically. I don't know my real father. Just like you. And my DNA is mixed together with my gem, my dad couldn't determine if we were related at all. So, unless we can figure out who our biological father, or fathers, if they aren't the same person, are, we can't even think about being together." She looked upset by this, but she understood.

"But, we don't even look that much alike. How would you not be able to tell by that alone?" She said, still trying to find some loop hole.

"I already thought about that. My mom looked a lot like me, from the picture of her I have at home, but... if my gem is masking my DNA, maybe it could be doing the same thing to my physical traits, too. Like, maybe my gem took the traits of whoever was the stronger of the two parents and made them dominant."

"That sounds very unlikely." Zina was determined to prove me wrong, so I just shrugged. Arguing wasn't going to solve anything.

* * *

As we reached the barn, I was unable to understand what I saw. Peridot was running around with random objects, a couple of metal pipes and beams along with chairs and instruments we floating behind her. "Hey, Peri!" I waved at her. She saw me, and dropped everything.

"Benny, where have you been? I haven't seen you since..." She stopped what she was saying when she realized something. "Sorry." It dawned on me that she was talking about hitting me in the chest.

"Oh. Yeah, don't worry about it. You didn't know much about humans then, and that my ribs were broken. I... Wait, I just realized, I have taken a LOT of beatings since I got here. This town is dangerous."

"It's not that bad." Lapis said, as she stepped outside. When she looked at me, she blushed slightly. "Oh. It's you. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, what can we do for you? Did you come to see our morps?" Peridot's face lit up.

"Your what?! Peri, this is supposed to be a kid friendly... well, mostly, kid friendly story." They all looked at me with confusion. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

"Morps are basically just art. They didn't know there was a name for it when they started making stuff." Zina whispered to me. "It... isn't all that great, but there are a few good pieces."

"Um... I think we'll pass. I was actually here to recruit you two. The gems have given us a mission. Or well, Zina and I a mission if you two refuse."

"What kind of mission?" Lapis said unenthusiastically.

"Whatever it is, it obviously needs my brains. Otherwise you wouldn't be asking me for help." Zina and Lapis both chuckled.

I shook my head, then looked at Peridot. "Well, for now, lets just discuss the mission at hand." I explained what was going on to them, and they looked a bit concerned.

"Are you asking us to help you fight?" Peridot asked. I shook my head again.

"Not at all. Zina and I can pretty much handle anyone we might run into who isn't cooperative. A bit of assistance might be necessary at some point, but mostly it I just want to give you guys something to do. I bet you're bored just sitting around in this barn all the time."

"So why us? We could literally find anything else to do to have fun. Why do you want us to join you?" Lapis didn't seem to enjoy the idea too much.

"Honestly? It'll be a good learning experience for you two. You have been so secluded, it's time you learn about us humans some more. Yeah, you can learn from Steven, but he isn't normal. If you're going to live on earth, you need to learn how to get along with its inhabitants." Zina said firmly. It seemed as if she and the gems had already discussed this.

Lapis let out a sigh. "Fine. But after we're done, I'm going to stay in this barn until I feel like it. No one else is getting me to come out."

"We'll see about that." I said, with a grin. Her eyes widened slightly, then she turned her head away from me. I glanced at Zina and saw her glaring at Lapis. This was going to be one heck of an adventure.


	12. Getting to Know the Team

"Okay, let's start with talents. Peridot, you first. You said you were smart. Is there anything you particularly excel in when it comes to intelligence?"

"Electronics." Zina and Lapis both said at the same time.

"Hmm... okay. And, special abilities? What can you do that no one else here can?"

"I have the ability to manipulate metal with my mind. Like so." She pulled a tin can towards her from behind me without even moving.

"Ferrokinesis. Interesting. Okay! I think I have an idea on what you can do to help the mission. NEXT! Lapis, what about you? What is your strengths?"

"Power and water control. Not necessarily in that order."

"So... You have hydrokinesis, and you are supposedly really powerful. Well, lets say you were to get into a fight and, for whatever reason, you couldn't control water. How well would you handle yourself?"

"I'd probably lose." Zina let out a chuckle, and Lapis shot her a glance. "A Lapis isn't built for combat. We are high class gems who are meant to rule over the weak. Our abilities give us the power to crush our enemies before they even get close to us. Without those powers, we are useless."

"No one is useless." I looked at Zina. "NEXT! Zina, I know you're a talented fighter like myself, but that's pretty much it. In the years that you've been away from me, have you developed any abilities I need to know about?"

"There is one... though it isn't the most fair, so I try not to use it."

"What is it? I can't just read your mind."

"Illusions." She said. There was a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around, she was standing right behind me. I turned back around and she was still in front of me. There were two Zinas standing next to me, no matter how I looked at it.

"That's pretty handy. Any limits to it that you know of?"

"Well, it only works while I am concentrating on it. The bigger the illusion, the more concentration that is required. So, in combat, it isn't all that effective. It's good for faint attacks, and for escaping, but not much more than that." This time it was Lapis who laughed. Zina turned to her, angry, and walked up to her. "What, not being able to use a power in a fight isn't bad. I could still beat you."

"Is that a challenge?" Lapis said with a grin on her face. "Sorry, I couldn't tell. You're not all that intimidating."

"Oh, that's IT!" Zina pulled back her arm, preparing to punch Lapis, but I was already behind her, anticipating this. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back, spinning her around and making her face the other direction, and pushing her forward a bit to put a space between the two girls, with me located between them.

"Look, you two obviously have some tension to sort out, but we won't be fighting each other. GOT IT?!" I said, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. They both nodded, and I let out a sigh. "Good... So, before we start the mission, we're gonna do a bit of training. First lesson will be individual training. A.K.A., sparing matches." Zina and Lapis grinned at each other. "Against ME! Each of you will try to take me down in a one-on-one fight. To start, we'll begin with Peridot."

Peridot look startled and started to panic. "ME?! I can't fight you! There's no way I would win. One, you're like twice my height, and two, you are obviously built for combat! I'm not!"

"Peri, relax. You and me, we're gonna have a game of wits. Basically, you need to keep me from reaching you, no matter what. I won't hurt you, but if I make it to you within a ten minute period, you lose. Think you can do that?"

"That's... all I have to do? That shouldn't be so bad. Okay, how long do I have before we begin?"

"Hmm... I'll give you a day. The lighthouse is your base, and I'll start from the bottom of the hill. I'll talk to my dad about helping you with supplies when possible. Just... Don't make anything to destructive. We want to leave the lighthouse, and most of this city, in one piece."

"That might make things difficult, but I'll try my best." She said, then headed into the barn. I looked at Zina and Lapis, and waved towards them.

"Come on, we're gonna walk and talk. I gotta go see my dad." They followed behind me as we made our way to the warp pad.

* * *

Arriving at the temple again, Steven and the others were sitting inside, talking to each other, until the sudden entrance of Zina, Lapis, and I interrupted them. "You're back." Said Garnet. "But where's Peridot?"

"She's back at the barn, preparing. I'm doing a bit of training before we leave. But for her training, I need to go talk to my dad. So, we used the warp pad to take a short cut. And, actually, I have something in mind for you guys, too. Not training, but preparations for before we leave. I'll get back to you on that more later. Anyway, see you guys later, I guess." I said as we made our way out the door. But a thought popped into my head as I was leaving. I turned around and opened the door again. "Hey, Steven, you got any combat training?"

The other gems looked at me in surprise. Pearl stood up, already mad. "NO! I don't know what you plan to do with him, but I won't allow it!"

"WHOA, calm down there, Pearl. I won't hurt him. I wanna see how strong he is."

"I don't really fight that much, seeing as how my shield is... well, a shield. But," he said, looking at his phone, "Connie should be here soon for our sparring practice. I can see if she wants to change it up some and we can try to spar with you instead."

"Sounds fun. I'll be in the park," I said, pointing upwards, "so come join me when she gets here." I waved and headed out the door again.

* * *

As we approached the lighthouse, I saw my dad setting up some lawn decorations outside. "DAD!" I shouted at him, startling him and making him drop some stuff. The three of us laughed. He looked a bit upset, but I knew he wasn't mad.

"Son, you know I hate it when you startle me like that." He said as we made it to him. "Anyway, what's up? You haven't been here lately without needing something from me."

"Well, if I ever get a chance to relax, maybe we can go hang out together. So, yeah... I have a friend coming who I want you to help out with something. Um... it's hard to explain. Or at least, hard to summarize. Basically, we are gonna do some training, and she might need help with parts for machines. You think you can do that?"

"You know, I'm not made of money. Your lucky that I have a long history on this planet and have been able to invest enough to afford quite a bit. Like this lighthouse."

"I KNOW, Dad. You don't have to give me the lecture. AGAIN." I smiled. "Thanks, Dad. She'll be here sometime between today and tomorrow with her plans." As I said this, I saw Peridot, Steven, and Connie heading up the hill to meet us. "There they are now. I'll send her this way and you two can discuss what parts she needs. But don't help her. If her plans are flawed at all, let them fail. That's the whole reason we're doing this training."

Lapis, Zina, and I walked away, headed for the others. When we caught up to them, I told Peridot to head up the hill to talk to my dad. After she left, I looked at the others. "So, are we ever going to figure out what our training is?" Zina said.

"Yep. You, Steven and Connie are going to go sit by the lighthouse. Lapis? Come at me full force."

* * *

Once the others were far enough away from us to avoid harm, I motioned for Lapis to attack. Almost instantly, water began to form around her. She made a giant hand that towered above me. I smiled, and she swung it downwards, clearly aim to crush me under the pressure.

 _If you have any useful powers to show, now would be the perfect time to let them out._ I held up one hand, and flames burst out from nowhere. The water made contact and evaporated, not leaving a mark on me. Trying to hide my excitement, I said, "I hope that wasn't all you had." I made my way towards her as she blasted me with more and more water. I just continued to evaporate it as she continued to attack me.

I was almost upon her when she hit me with a spout of water that had seemed to make it past my defenses. I held up my hands in defeat and laughed. "Looks like you win, Lapis. Luck got the better of me." I was soaked by the water. But after all of that heat, it was kind of refreshing.

"Well, that was... kinda fun." Lapis said, smiling.

"See. I knew you'd enjoy hanging out with me." We laughed for about a minute, then I looked to the others and waved for them.

Once we were together, I told Lapis to go sit a couple of feet from us. Once she was out of the way, I looked at Connie and Steven. "So, how do you two wanna do this? One at a time, or both of you at once?"

"Wait, we're fighting YOU?!" Connie blurted out of fear. "There's no WAY we can win after what we just saw.'

"Yeah. I still have a hard time with the other gems now, and they couldn't even beat Lapis. You almost beat her, so how can we stand a chance against you?" Steven looked like he may have made a bad decision. I just smiled at them.

"Don't worry, guys. Let me tell you two things. One, I won't be fighting you, Zina will, and two, while the three of you fight, you have to try and get this." I pulled my ōtsuchi and slammed it against the ground for dramatic effect. "Whoever gets my it from me first, wins. But remember, I won't just give up my weapon to the first person who gets to me. You have to actually take it."

Connie through her arms up. "Then there's no way that we can win. Even if we DO beat Zina, we wouldn't be able to take your weapon from you." She brought her arms back down and crossed them with a huff.

"It's fine. You just have to play your strengths. Think about this, what are the two of you good at? What do you do to stop a fight as quickly as possible? Same goes for you, Zina."

Zina gave me a look of confusion. "That's a really open question. What I do to end a fight varies on who I'm fighting."

"Well, if I had to pick what my strength is, I would say, well, strength. Whether it be a strong opponent or a smart one, I use my strength to my advantage to make sure I win."

Zina thought about it more, then finally something clicked. "I think I get it. Okay, so when do we start?"

I look ed towards Steven and Connie. "When I get an answer to my question. Together, or separately?"

The two looked at each other for a moment, then nodded. "Together." They said in unison.

"Great!" I said, turning around and walking away a few steps. I'll be waiting..." I stopped at the sound of a strangely familiar resonance. I turned around and saw Steven and Connie fusing. I was stunned, and when I looked to Zina, I could tell she was as well.

"Sorry, you were saying?" Said the girl who took Steven and Connie's places from where they were standing.

"You two..." I stammered before being interrupted by Zina.

"YOU TWO CAN FUSE?!" She shouted, overreacting.

"I thought only gems could fuse." I said, walking up to them. "So what are you called now?"

"Stevonnie. How did you know that our name would be different as a fusion?"

"Well, when I fused with Jasper..." I began to say before being interrupted again.

"Wait, you fused... with JASPER?! How did you even survive that? Or better yet, why would you fuse with her?!"

"She wasn't so tough. And, not to bad a gem, either. I wish I could convince her that we aren't her enemies."

"It's... a little late for that."

"What do you mean? What happened to her?"

"I'll explain later. It's a complicated topic."

I crossed my arms, unhappy with that answer. "Fine, but I expect a very detailed explanation later. So, how is it that you two can fuse? Peridot told me only gems could fuse together?"

"Being half human, I can fuse with humans, I guess. Not really sure about it myself. Anyway, when do we start? I don't have all day."


	13. There's No Die in Team

I fell to the ground, exhausted. Zina and Stevonnie were holding tight to my hammer, falling forward slightly, still trying to wrestle it from my grip. I was determined not to give it up, but they had overpowered me, and after a few minutes of fighting for control, I lost my grip. The two starred at the hammer for about a minute, then they smiled and dropped it. I had lost, but they had both given up on the match. I smiled with them.

"I'm glad you figured it out. If we are going to work as a team, your bond with each other will be the most important thing to have. Strategy is important, but things never go according to plan. Being able to work with what your given is where the skill comes in. But, if your team doesn't know how you will handle things, they won't know how to react. That could cause you to get in each other's way or hurt, so knowing how to work well with your partner, you will be stronger than any ragtag team with the same skill and intelligence than you." I laughed. "I didn't expect you two to do so well on your first try, though."

"ARE YOU DONE YET?!" Peridot screamed from on top of the hill. I sat up and looked in her direction, not seeing anything around her. I took a deep breath and stood up. With a little help from Zina, I made my way up the hill to where Peridot was.

"I thought you were going to prepare? Are you ready to start already?"

"What?!" She snorted a bit. "Of course not. I just need you guys to get out of the way so I can start building."

"Oh." I smiled. "Okay, I could use some rest, anyway." I recalled my hammer and waved to Lapis. After I told her she could go back home, she flew off. Steven and Connie unfused and the two headed for the edge of the cliff. Steven grabbed Connie and the two jumped off the cliff, floating down to the beach below.

"So... I don't really have a place to stay. I've been staying at Steven's house with Amethyst, but I can only stand the garbage for so long. Do you think there's any room for me here?" Zina was obviously trying to find a way to spend the night with me, but I was still wary of her.

"Look, my dad, might let you stay here, and I don't really care if you do.' I sighed. "But I gotta go do something. I don't know how long it will be. Probably an hour or two. That's if things don't go wrong for me. And you know me, they always go wrong."

"What do you gotta go do? I could come with you." She said, not letting up.

"It's work related, mostly. I've been unconscious for so long, and I asked for a job that I haven't shown up for once. Probably not a good idea for me to just show up with some girl in tow."

"Well, I can stay outside until you're done..."

"ZINA. You have to stop this. We're best friends, and I love you, but I don't know if I feel that way. Even if I did, I don't want to act on it until I know for sure that we aren't related. So, go inside, ask my dad to stay, and get some sleep. You can have my bed, I don't care. Just... Give me some space, okay?"

She was fighting back tears. "Okay." She said, a hint of a small sob escaping. "I'll see you later."

* * *

After getting Zina to leave me alone, made my way to the Big Donut. It was late and it appeared to be close to closing time for them. Just as I was reaching for the door, it opened and Lars stepped outside. He ran into me and looked me in the face, angry at first, then fading to annoyance. "Oh, it's just this freak." He said, pushing me out of the way.

Sadie followed behind him, sliding on her jacket before locking the door. "Wait up, Lars. And, who were you talking too?" She said before turning around to see me.

I held up my hand and shrugged, a little worried she'd be mad at me. "Hey, Sadie. I... I need to explain..."

"OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE OKAY!" She said, giving me a hug that only reached my chest. "Steven told me you were in a coma. I was worried you wouldn't wake up!"

"Yeah, I came to talk to you about that. I had only just got this job before that happened, and then I was gone for such a long time... Did I lose the job?"

"Seriously?" She laughed awkwardly. "Well, I can't say it looked great for a first impression, but we aren't heartless. You've been in a coma. How could you help that? We won't take the job from you, but we are gonna have to see how things go from here before you can start working more than a few hours a week. Company policies and all that."

let out a sigh of relief. "That's perfect. It's more generous than I could have hoped for someone to be." I smiled, than thanked her. As she headed off, I thought about what Lars had said. After what had happened with Zina, he's lucky I was to preoccupied to worry about it. I headed towards the beach, remembering the hole I had made in the side of the cliff. It was a pretty decent sized place, and no one really knew about it, so I thought I might try and use it as a home away from home.

* * *

After a couple hours clearing the newly formed cave of loose rocks and making a bit more room as carefully as I could, I decided to be an idiot. I started climbing up the side of the cliff, not wanting to walk around and then head up the hill just to get to the lighthouse. After a few minutes of climbing, I got tired, so I decided to drop back down and walk. Unfortunately, it was a higher drop than I had anticipated. I hit the ground, jarring my legs a bit. I headed back into the cave, tired and sore. I just wanted to sleep, so I pulled some sand in from outside the cave and made a small bed out of it. When I went to lie down on my makeshift bed, I fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

I began walking down an open field, unsure of where I had came from or how I had gotten there, but completely aware that the field stretched into infinity. I continued walking, hoping for change, though not sure it would ever come. Periodically, I would get the urge to stop, or to stray from my path, but some powerful, unseen force drew me closer, not allowing me to venture on my own way.

After what seemed like an eternity, I realized that this was a dream. Once I was aware of the dreamscape before me, I could make slight changes to my dream, but I could still only follow the set path. I began to give up and wait it out when a canyon appeared before me. I tried to stop, knowing if I did not there would be a fall to who knew where, but was unable to fight the invisible force. I drew closer and closer to the canyon until at last my feet lost hold of the ground.

When I hit the ground, I was finally able to control my body. I looked around and saw nothing but desert and caves. Odd, humanoid shaped caves placed along the walls of the canyon. I walked around exploring, until I heard what sounded like whispers. I followed the sounds, and as I drew closer, I began to notice that they were ramblings from a voice I had heard before. When I approached the source of the ramblings, I found Jasper cradled against the ground.

"Jasper?" I called out to her, my words echoing as if I was in a cave. When I spoke, she turned to look at my like a rabid animal. Her face was forming into a beast, along with her body. She roared at me, and started moving towards me.

"YOU! You were the only other person to ever fuse with me. If you had shown up, you could have stopped this. It's all YOUR fault!" She continued to change, until only a beast was left. She tackled me to the ground and roared in my face. She towered over me about three times my size. She opened her mouth and pulled me in between her jaws. All around me had gone black, and all sound was gone. I sat for a minute, unsure where I was, until I saw a glowing blue light, similar to when my gem shines. I tried to move towards it, but realized that I was mangled, as if ripped apart by an animal. I began to panic as the light drew closer. As it drew near, the light washed over me, bringing with it a sense of calm.

When the light was almost blinding, it began to dim and I could make out the form of a person. When it returned to that of a faint glow, I noticed just who the person was. Surprised, another me, completely blue, stood in front of me with a smile on his face.

"Hello, brother. Looks like you could use a hand. Maybe I could help." He moved a hand towards my mangled body, and my skin began to stretch out towards him. It got about an inch away before he pulled his hand back. "Or, maybe I can just let you die and be my own person. I always did hate being cramped up inside that weak human body of yours." He pulled his arm back, then swung his fist towards my head. When it collided, lights flashed around me. I could only make out faint images through most of it, but when it all stopped, a giant shifting shadow stood over the light house, staring down on beach city while thousands of small shadows stormed the town, smashing and burning buildings. I could hear cries of pain wailing through the air.

* * *

I awoke to the crashing of waves as the sun drew over the ocean, painting the sky a bright orange and purple. I tried to recall the dream I had, but it slipped through my mind as if it were air through a vent. I shrugged, assuming it wouldn't have much consequence, and made my way towards Steven's house.

When I arrived, Steven was storming out of the house with a book in his hands. Garnet followed behind him, saying something that I couldn't quite make out. The two talked back and forth for a few minutes, then Steven left. I walked up to Garnet and asked her what was going on, but she didn't respond. Not getting any answers, I ran after Steven.

When I caught up to him, he looked angry. "Steven, what's up? Garnet not letting you go get some bits?"

"This is serious, Benny. I found some clues about my mom, but the gems won't let me go. So, I'm going on my own. And you better not try and stop me."

I was a little shocked by his tone, but I understood needing answers and relying only on one's self. "No, I won't try and stop you. Just be careful. I'm sure if the gems don't want you to go, then they must have their reasons." I patted his head slightly, then let him go on his own. I decided that Peridot had had enough time for her machines, so I headed for the lighthouse.

* * *

When I began walking up the hill to the lighthouse, Peridot was going around doing something that I assumed was calibrations with a tablet, when Zina walked outside and spotted me. "BENNY! Where have you been all night?!" She raced towards me, an angry expression on her face.

"Is everyone in a bad mood today?" I whispered to myself. "I was sleeping on the beach. I decided to do some rock climbing, but only got about halfway up when my arms and legs didn't want to let me climb anymore, so I just slept on the beach. Honestly, I don't know how I can stand right now."

"Why... Why in the name of all that is sane would you try and climb up the side of this cliff?" She looked at me like I was crazy, which I didn't know if I was or not anymore, but I just shrugged. That just made her even angrier and she punched me in the arm. She let out a sigh, then walked back inside.

"So... are you ready to start now?" Peridot was staring at me, leaning against the wall of the lighthouse. I nodded, then looked around.

"Where is everything? I thought you would have this a lot... flashier, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to underestimate you or anything, I just thought that you would try and show off more."

"Don't worry about that. Just go down the hill and we'll begin." I nodded, then turned towards the bottom of the hill, until she called for me again. She handed me a device that looked like a socket for a ring, but a much larger scale. "It goes over your gem. Your dad and I worked together to make it."

I put in on my gem like she said, waiting for something to happen. "What is it? Is something supposed to happen?"

"Well, it's two things. Steven makes shields, so he is able to protect the other gems. I usually stay with Lapis, and she is able to protect us with water, but you and Zina don't have anyone to protect you. So, your dad and I wanted to help make something for you in case of an emergency."

"Wow, so how does it work?"

"That's something that you will have to find out later. The second thing that it does is this." Suddenly, light burst out of my gem, and a hologram of Zina stood in front of me. She waved to me and I waved back.

"This is still weird. It's gonna take a while to get used to it." Zina reached out to me, but her hand dissipated on contact.

"We tried to mimic a pearl's ability to project memories, maps, and clones, but it didn't quite work. A pearls projections are able to condense in certain areas, so they could be used as weapons. Unfortunately, we couldn't produce the same effect. But, you should still be able to use the functions a normal pearl can. Communication included."

"This is awesome! Thanks, Peri. Do you have some for the other gems?" She nodded. "This is unbelievable. How did you do all of this in one night?"

"Well, your dad had a lot of the... never mind. Let's just start already." I nodded and headed down the hill. Once there, she pushed a button, then yelled that she was ready.

I took a step forward, and a mechanical arm popped out of the ground and swung at me. I jumped over it, but when my feet hit the ground, it swung back and knocked me over. I rolled away and got up, but more arms popped out of the ground. They were swinging all over the yard, so I knew dodging them wasn't going to be easy. I pulled out my hammer out, but it looked different. It had metal spikes sticking out the sides. As one of the arms swung towards me, I swung my hammer at it, stopping it from moving. After a few seconds of catching my breath, I heard a crackling sound before I was launched back by an electric blast.

* * *

At the last minute, I was still trying to get past the machines that kept popping out of the ground. I was about to lose, and I didn't know how to get around these machines. I was beginning to get frustrated. I started smashing the machines with my hammer and running towards Peridot. She grinned at me, and I continued running after her. I was almost to her, when something grabbed my leg and slammed me to the ground. Then suddenly, all the machines receded into the ground. I looked at Peridot and she had turned off the systems. I stood back up, and realized that an alarm was going off.

"You lose." Peridot said, laughing at me. I pushed her forehead, knocking her over. I grabbed her by the leg and dragged her to the cliff side, then jumped down. She screamed most of the way down, but I cradled her in my arms so she wouldn't get hurt. When we hit the ground, sand went flying all around us.

"Are you CRAZY?! I could have died!" I just laughed at her, then headed into Steven's house. Peridot followed behind me, still complaining.

"Quiet." I held up a hand and she stopped talking. "We're going back to the barn. I need you to go do something for me."

"What could that possibly be?"

"Train. You're ferrokenesis is lacking. Go practice using it more." I stepped onto the warp pad and Peridot followed me.

"What do you think I've been doing with my free time, watching paint dry?"

No, but obviously you aren't training hard enough. And one thing is for sure." I turned to her and knelt down in front of her, getting as close as comfortably possible. "Lose the attitude. All that cockiness isn't going to get you anywhere. Remember, you have special powers unique to you, but without proper training and dedication, none of it matters. You're just a small," I lifted her up by her arm, "unimportant," I grabbed her gem, "gemstone."

I pulled slightly and watched as her body glitched in and out of existence slightly. I dropped her, causing her to land on the ground on her hands and knees. "Remember, that's how home world sees us, and they wouldn't be afraid to dispose of us if necessary."

I held my hand out to her and helped her up. "What's the point of even trying, then?" She said, looking at me angrily.

"Because they feel the same about each other. But to me, you're a friend. I won't let them shatter you, even if it costs me my life. We have to work together, that's what makes us strong, and if you don't work hard and pull your fair share of the weight, we'll all fail. So, get stronger. For yourself, and for your friends here on earth."

With that, we warped to the barn and walked in silence. It wasn't until we noticed the other Crystal Gems that we said anything. I walked into the barn, but Peridot walked up to the others. Inside, I found Lapis sitting in front of a TV. I just shook my head and went back home. I needed to grab some things for my new beach house... cave.


End file.
